Blue Devil Tales
by Falconess
Summary: A collection of short stories set in the Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) Paramount Movie Universe. Takes place after the events of the movie, focusing on Sonic's new life with Donut Lord (Tom) and Pretzel Lady (Maddie). Mostly family fluff, but some more more adventurous situations as well.
1. Restless Dreams

**Author's Note: **_This is set in the Official Paramount Sonic Universe, after the events of the first movie, so __**Sonic the Hedgehog **__movie spoilers if you haven't seen it yet. This will be mostly a collection of wholesome slice of life tidbits, but will contain some drama and family misadventures.  
_

* * *

**Restless Dreams**

Sonic the Hedgehog was running down a seemingly endless Montana highway on a clear night. He could see for miles around him in all directions. Above him, the Milky Way loomed like a giant river of stars, cascading down towards a fixed point just beyond the horizon. He briefly wondered where his planet was, if he could even see it from here. Long Claw had said Earth was on the far side of the universe, after all.

It was early fall, and Sonic sniffed, breathing in the crisp scent of dying leaves on the night breeze. For a moment, he was immersed in his element, thundering past, a streak of blue light trailing his wake.

Industrial headlights blinded him as a huge vehicle swerved onto the road ahead of him, blocking his way. He came to a sudden stop and his ears flickered as he heard the high-pitched laser-targeting systems locking onto him. He almost stared down in disbelief at the red dots on his chest. He blocked the blinding light with his hands to try and see who was piloting it, even though he knew better.

"I've got you now, hedgehog!" Dr. Robotnik grinned, gleefully pressing a series of buttons on his open dash.

Several weapons began powering up, blasting forward as they launched towards him.

Sonic barely had time to dodge the missiles as he frantically reversed, back-flipping out of the way, running back the way he came.

One thought dominated everything else.

"Home! Have to run home..."

But something was wrong. He was running, but it was like the world had sped up around him instead and now he was the slow one. He barely had time to brake before slamming into the side of Robotnik's massive vehicle as it skidded in front once again to block his path. That was impossible! Nothing was fast enough to outrun him!

The impact dazed him and he stumbled backwards, landing roughly on the asphalt.

"What's the matter, Sonic?" He looked up to see Robotnik standing over him, perfectly silhouetted against the sterile lights of his vehicle. His red goggles flickered like flames.

"Are you afraid?"

Sonic gasped but couldn't breathe. His limbs felt heavy as Robotnik's hands reached out and grabbed him. His mouth was wide open, calling for help, but no sound escaped his mouth. He was screaming at his body to move, to kick, to run, to do something - but nothing would respond. Robotnik began crushing his chest with an impossible amount of force for any mere human. The world around him began to go black, darkness swirling, the stars falling around him, drawn into a black hole with Robotnik at the center. Worst of all, Robotnik was laughing, a maniacal cackle that hurt his ears. His lungs burned and he gasped sharply for air, choking.

"SONIC!"

Sonic awoke in a fit of coughs, gasping as he sat straight up in his race car bed, his now glowing blue quills tangled in his sheets and comforter, sweating and panting as a human hand reached towards him.

Sonic flinched from the hand, fearing the worst until he saw his favorite human's face staring worriedly at him. Donut Lord. It was just Donut Lord. Sonic's eyes were wide, his irises tinged with a bright blue glow.

"You're all right," Tom spoke quietly, his hand squeezing his shoulder gently as he peeled back some of the covers.

Sonic's heart was still working overtime, even for him. He opened his mouth but it felt so dry. His eyes darted around, assessing the situation in a matter of moments. He was in his cave, in the attic of Donut Lord and Pretzel Lady's house. Donut Lord was perched on the edge of his bed, dark circles under his eyes, his hair mussed up from sleep. He looked at himself and realized he was glowing again, the same as when he ran around the baseball field... and fought Robotnik.

Sonic swallowed and closed his eyes for a brief moment, but that was a mistake, the vision of Dr. Robotnik choking him was still clear in his mind. He yelped briefly, clamping his hands protectively around his head, instinctively curling into a ball, sparks of electricity crackling.

"Sonic! Look at me."

Sonic finally managed to uncurl and looked up, locking eyes with Tom. Seeing his genuine concern helped, but he was panicking, "Breathe," Tom said slowly.

Tom demonstrated for him, taking a very conscious breath and Sonic shakily mimicked him. He suddenly reached a hand out.

"Tom… I-I think I'm... dying," Sonic finally managed, pressing his other hand against his frantic beating heart. Tears were forming in his glowing blue eyes.

"No, you're not," Tom reassured him. "You're just having a panic attack, but it will pass. I'm right here." Tom took Sonic's shaking hand, holding it tightly, "C'mon, keep breathing for me."

Sonic did so, in and out, in and out. In... Out...

In a few moments, the vice that had gripped him began to release. He gulped and continued to look at Tom, eyes still alert but calming bit by bit.

"There you go. You've got this." The glowing in his quills began to disperse as well, sending little sparks of energy rolling away, fading into nothing. Tom was shocked by one of them, but only flinched briefly.

The next moments seemed to pass like hours. Sonic had no idea how long he had been sitting there with Tom in his room, lit now only by the soft lamp beside his bed, but eventually time began to right itself and move forward normally again. He sighed deeply, letting his tense shoulders finally relax. At last, his glowing blue irises faded back to their original green.

"Another dream?" Tom asked.

Sonic stared down at his rumpled comforter and sheets, beginning to untangle himself. He now realized he was hot and sweaty, carefully looking himself over.

"More like a nightmare." He grumbled, stretching and rubbing his shoulder. It was very stiff.

Tom sighed deeply, rubbing his face a bit before running a hand through his own messy hair.

Sonic's ears drooped. He realized this was the third nightmare he had this week. He felt his cheeks flush, "I woke you guys up again, didn't I?"

"Well," Tom paused a moment, head bobbing a little as he tried to figure out what to say, "Technically, Ozzie heard you first, and then he started barking from his kennel. But, hey, it could've been worse," Tom smiled, squeezing his shoulder, "At least you didn't sleep-run on the roof this time, right?"

Sonic swallowed. Yeah, when that had happened a few nights ago, he had nearly destroyed the roof (and some of the chimney) by zooming around it in just his socks. He was lucky he hadn't slipped off in his unconscious state and broken anything.

"Sorry," Sonic muttered. He yanked his comforter over his head, wishing he could've just stayed asleep, like a normal kid.

"For what?"

"Being a burden," he mumbled from under the comforter.

"Sonic, you're not a burden."

Sonic sighed loudly, his brows furrowing and his comforter rustling.

"Hey," Tom peeled back the comforter. He had a gentle smile on his face. The same smile Sonic had once appreciated from a distance for 10 years. It was so much warmer up close.

"C'mere, buddy," Tom opened his arms, gesturing him over.

Sonic crawled out of his comforter, plopping down next to Tom, leaning his cheek against his chest. For the longest time he thought he would be alone forever. His eyes began to tear up, gently dampening Tom's sleep shirt. Tom smoothed his quills, wrapping his arm around him.

"This will get easier," Tom said.

Sonic snorted, rolling his eyes.

"It will. I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but it will."

Sonic sighed again.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay," he replied softly, leaning against him and closing his eyes.

"Alright... Well, I'd better head back to bed, before…"

"Before Maddie comes up to check on you two?" Pretzel Lady asked with a grin. She was leaning on the top of the spring ladder leading up into the attic, her head laying on top of her folded arms. She looked just as sleepy as Tom had been, blinking slowly, "I love seeing my boys get along. You're just so cute, it hurts..."

"For the record," Sonic said, "I'm not cute. I'm handsome."

"Mm-hmm, whatever you say, sweety," she said, yawning.

"Tell her I'm not cute!"

"She's right," Tom admitted. Sonic huffed, crossing his arms.

"I'm always right. Night, boys," She said, moving back down the ladder. She suddenly poked her head back up, "But seriously though, if you need anything, it's okay to wake us up, Sonic. We want to know you're okay."

"Thanks," he replied, and then added quickly, "Love you."

"Love you too," she replied, and then stepped down again, her soft footsteps echoing back towards their room at the end of the hall.

Tom smoothed down Sonic's quills, "You gonna be okay? I can stay for a bit, if you-"

"Nah, I'm good," Sonic said confidently, but then Tom tilted his head, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe," he admitted, adding quickly, "You know, just until I fall asleep..."

"That's what I thought," Tom said with a grin, helping him straighten the mess of sheets and comforter, tucking him in.

"Goodnight, Donut Lord," Sonic smirked.

"Night, you little blue devil," Tom said, with a laugh, ruffling his quills.

Tom switched off the lamp beside his bed, watching as Sonic curled up on his side, yawning. Sonic snuggled under his fluffy comforter, pulling it up under his chin.

It had been so long since he had someone to watch his back that he forgot how nice it was to let his guard down and relax. He felt safe here, and more importantly, he felt loved.

Tom Wachowski lingered a few minutes after Sonic finally passed out again, his small chest rising and falling rhythmically, wanting to make sure he really was okay and not just saying so to make him and Maddie feel better. A snore whistled out his little black nose and Tom smiled to himself. Yep, he was out like a light.

The poor kid had been on his own for so long that he had trouble asking for help, unless he felt like it was some kind of big emergency. He'd been trying so hard lately to prove himself to Maddie and Tom lately when there really wasn't anything to prove. He and Maddie loved him and he was part of their family now. Nothing would change that, even if... someday he had to leave.

A part of Tom felt suddenly heartsick at that thought. It was strange how attached to Sonic he'd gotten in the past few months. Now he couldn't imagine a day without him. He hoped if Sonic ever did leave, it would be out of wanting to see more of the universe, and not because he felt like he had to go. He was still so young, and Tom thought it might be nice to have time slow down for once, just so he could spend a little more time with him like this.

Before he left, he brushed a few stray quills back into place, then carefully stood up, trying not to wake him, and crept down the attic ladder. Sonic continued to snore quietly as the attic ladder popped back into place with a quiet click.

The Wachowskis slept peacefully for the rest of the night.


	2. Monster Truck Blues - Part 1

**Monster Truck Blues - Part 1**

It was a lazy Saturday morning in the Wachowski house, but Sonic the Hedgehog was already up and about (he had just finished his morning treadmill run) trying not to wake anyone as he zipped down to the living room, grabbing the cable remote and immediately began channel surfing for something interesting to watch, switching so quickly any normal person would have looked away for fear of getting dizzy.

At first, he was just bored, but as he passed all the local channels he spotted something interesting. It was the tail end of a commercial and by the time he surfed 20 channels back, it cut back to the program, a fishing show. This would have been a problem if not for the miraculous modern human technology that allowed him to rewind (and even record!) the last few minutes of live TV. He grinned, pressing and holding the rewind.

Once he was done, he plopped down on the carpet, sitting way too close to the big screen (but there was no one to yell at him to move, so there he stayed) and pressed "Play," holding the remote tightly to his chest in anticipation.

Guitars trilled and motors revved as a flash of flames flooded the screen, cutting to a blue-colored truck with oversized wheels blasting up a hill and flinging itself through a ring of fire.

A booming voice began yelling out, "Witness as 20 of the Greatest Monster Trucks of All-Time face off in a fearsome battle royale! Last truck standing wins!" More video clips flashed with the cars crashing and smashing and rolling over each other. Explosions and clouds of dust covered the screen.

Sonic's mouth was hanging wide open as brightly-colored text assaulted the screen, the voice continuing, "Tickets on sale now! Be there this Sunday night only at Magic City Arena for the Monster Truck Event of a Lifetime: Monster Brawl 2020! Call now or go online to reserve your VIP tickets now to win a chance to ride on your favorite monster truck! This is the brawl to end them all! Monster Brawl 2020!"

"The brawl to end them all," Sonic repeated slowly, already imagining himself in the driver's seat of the biggest, fiercest truck, wrecking everything in site, screaming at the top of his lungs, his fingers flashing the devil horns sign out the window to a raucous crowd in the stands that cheered his name.

Sonic rewound the commercial and watched it five more times, noticing new details he missed with each new viewing. His grin grew wider and wider. He couldn't wait. And thankfully, he didn't have to wait, because it was happening tomorrow night! What could be better!?

However, there one was only one thing left to do. Convince Donut Lord to drive him to Billings, Montana.

No problem, though! Definitely no problem! He was cool, calm, and collected. He just needed to butter him up a little, and Sonic knew exactly how to do that.

Seconds later, he was racing down the sidewalk of Main Street, coming to a halt just outside Tom's favorite place, the Jellee Donut Shop. The bell tinkled as Sonic entered slowly, as Tom had taught him. This lack of speed was really inefficient, but he also didn't want to spook Lacey behind the counter.

"Sonic!" The chubby older woman said brightly, leaning over the counter, "What can I do for you today?"

"Hey Lace, I've got a special order. I'd like-"

She shushed him, "Hold on. Who exactly is paying for this 'special order'?"

"Paying?"

Oh right, he thought, Money. Pretty much the worst thing humans ever invented - mainly because he never had enough to do anything he wanted.

"Can't you just add it to my tab?" He pleaded, trying to look as innocent as possible.

She crossed her arms. "No can do. Tom paid off your tab, and he told me not to add anything else to it."

"Aw man," Sonic slumped against the glass counter, staring at the glittering sugary treasures stuck inside. "But I don't have any money..."

"Sorry, sugar-foot. No dough, no dough...nuts." She chuckled.

Sonic moved his head up just enough to glare at her over the edge of the counter. The pun stung his pride most of all.

"Now, now, don't give me that face. What on Earth do you want this 'special order' for, anyhow?"

"For Tom," he admitted.

"Oh, I see now. You're trying to butter him up for something."

"How did you know?! Can you read minds?" He smirked at her.

She laughed brightly. "So you think you're the first one who's ever come in here trying to sweet-talk someone with sweets?"

Sonic sighed, laying his cheek against the cool glass. So much for this plan.

"Don't look so glum. Tell you what, if you make a couple quick deliveries for me this morning, I'll box up a half-dozen of his favorites. Is that a deal?"

"Deal!" Sonic said, jumping up to shake her hand over the counter. "Thanks, Lacey!"

"Here you go," she said, setting a few pink boxes in a line on the counter. "The receipts have the delivery addresses on them."

"Got it!" He picked up the first box, examining the tiny receipt stuck to the top. The first one was for the head librarian, Amanda. Too easy! The library wasn't even that far from Main Street.

He spun the pink box on his finger like a basketball.

"Careful!" Lacey lunged over the counter to grab it, but he smirked, stepping out of her way, still spinning the box, "You make sure those arrive intact!" She shouted after him as he walked towards the door.

"Do-nut worry!" He said with a wink, the bell tinkling softly as he exited.

Lacey sighed, shaking her head, "That boy…"

A moment later he blasted away, blowing one poor pedestrian's newspaper into their face.

It had been a lot easier when he didn't have to slow down for everyone, but that was back then, back when he had to hide and steal to survive, back when he was living in the woods and having to dodge Crazy Carl's latest contraptions every night. This felt good though. He was doing a good deed and getting what he wanted at the same time!

Operation: Bribe the Sheriff couldn't fail.

Each of the deliveries went well, though everyone was surprised to see Sonic making the delivery. They all asked him if this was his first job and he wasn't sure how to respond. He did enjoy delivering things, especially when the people were so happy not only to see him but receive their order.

A fleeting thought flickered through his mind. Maybe I could get a part-time job?

He'd have to ask for Donut Lord's permission first though. But what could it hurt? It was in town, and here in Green Hills, he could just be himself. He didn't have to hide from anyone here. He decided to file away the idea for later. Right now, he had one goal in mind: seeing the brawl to end them all.

Soon enough, Sonic returned after his last delivery.

"Lordy, that was fast!" Lacey said, offering him the small pink box, "I only just finished packing them up!"

"Sonic's the name, speed's my game!" He said with a wink and a pose.

"I wish I had half your energy, sugar-foot. Now, you tell Tom I said hello."

"I will! Thanks again!"

"No, thank you. Now I can take an early lunch break."

Lacey seemed really pleased, and that made Sonic happy too. He waved to her outside the Jellee Donut Shop window as she returned the gesture, flipping over her "Out To Lunch" sign.

He looked down at the small pink box in his hands. Then he zoomed back home with what he hoped was his golden ticket to see the brawl to end them all.

By the time he arrived back at 55 Plymouth Road, Donut Lord and Pretzel Lady were already engaging in their favorite Saturday morning past-time: lounging on the couch together, each armed with a tall coffee tumbler.

"Speak of the devil," Tom said as Sonic opened the front door, immediately greeted by Ozzie who bounded up to Sonic and licked his face.

"Did you hear that Ozzie? He called me a devil? Do you think I'm a devil? What's that? I'm a perfect little angel! You really are a hedgehog's best friend."

"I know you can't really talk to him," Tom said.

"You'll never prove it," Sonic laughed and Ozzie trotted beside him as he came in, holding out the pink box.

"What's that?" Maddie asked.

"I bring an offering for the Mighty Donut Lord," Sonic said, bowing on one knee to present the box to him.

Tom looked skeptical as he set his coffee tumbler aside and took the box, eyeing Sonic suspiciously as he opened it, "Where did you get these?"

"Uh, hello? Jellee Donut Shop. The only one in town... Unless you're holding out on me? You're not holding out on me, are you?" Sonic looked genuinely worried for a moment.

"No, it's the only one," Maddie confirmed and Sonic relaxed, folding his arms behind his head.

Tom indicated the box, "I mean how. How did you get these? You didn't…" He lowered his voice, "You didn't steal these, did you?"

"Tom!" Maddie exclaimed.

Sonic glared, folding his arms, "No! I earned 'em, fair and square. I did a few deliveries for Lacey today. Oh, and she says hi, by the way."

Tom sighed with relief, collapsing back into the couch. The donut box sat open and uneaten on his lap.

Maddie elbowed him gently.

"What?" he mouthed.

"Apologize," she mouthed back, nodding to Sonic.

"I'm sorry, Sonic."

"It's cool," he waved it off, "Do you like them?"

Tom inspected the donuts. "Hey, these are all my favorites. What's the occasion?"

"Do I need an occasion to spoil my best friend in the whole world?" Sonic said with the most sweet and innocent face he could muster.

"Call it a hunch, but I have a feeling you do. Now, what is it you want?"

This was it. Sonic had been practicing his presentation all morning in his mind as he ran his deliveries, determining the perfect words to express how amazing the Monster Brawl was and how even more amazing Tom would be for driving Sonic there. Who knows? Maybe Maddie and Ozzie could come along too! Or even Cousin Jojo and Aunt Rachel! What could be better than a real family road trip? (Especially one without a certain genocidal scientist chasing them across the west coast!)

Sonic grabbed the remote and queued up the recorded commercial. He faced the TV and took a deep breath, closing his eyes. This was it. Now or never.

Tom and Maddie nearly fell off the couch as Sonic raced around, pulling all the curtains shut and blocking out most of the available light by hanging up quilts and blankets, save for a floor lamp which he precariously arched toward him, using the lamp shade as a spotlight, beaming on himself standing in front of the TV. A song began to play from their stereo. Tom raised an eyebrow, was that the soundtrack to… _Days of Thunder_?

"Can you picture it, Tom?" Sonic was impossibly standing next to him, arm around his shoulder, the 'spotlight' somehow managing to follow him as he walked towards the TV.

"A family road trip the likes of which no Wachowski has seen before. An epic journey of unimaginable proportions!"

"And what will their final destination be?"

"Sonic, what are you-" The lights went out again, but only briefly, as the TV flickered on at maximum volume, Tom and Maddie covering their ears as the Monster Brawl commercial played in its full glory.

"Sonic! Turn it down!" But Sonic didn't hear Tom at all. Ozzie began barking.

A variety of colored lights rippled around them - which was basically Sonic twirling handfuls of freshly snapped glowsticks from different locations, seemingly at the same time.

As the commercial ended, Sonic ended with a flourish, blinding all of them by flinging open the curtains and dropping all the blankets. They were covering their eyes so they missed the final pose he struck, flinging confetti into the air.

Sonic held his pose in silence for a few moments, breathing heavily, a little drunk on his own excitement, eagerly glancing between both of his guardians, looking for any shred of approval as they opened their eyes and looked around. The confetti settled all around them like a quiet snowfall.

"Ta-da!" Sonic said, emphasizing his pose.

"Is it over?" Maddie whispered softly.

"I think so," Tom replied.

Ozzie whined and ran out of the living room, heading out the back doggie door.

Sonic was still holding the pose. He was getting tired of holding still for so long, but he kept up his giant grin. It had to have worked. It had to! They were just too thrilled to say anything! A piece of confetti landed on his nose. He blew it off with a quick puff.

"So, who's ready for our first family road trip?" Sonic added, but he didn't sound so sure of himself now.

Tom and Maddie looked at each other. Maddie seemed to shake her head slightly and he nodded. Sonic wasn't sure what to make of that. They seemed to have their own little language sometimes.

Tom motioned him over and Sonic finally relaxed from his pose. Tom patted the ottoman in front of him and Sonic plopped down on it, hands clasped, feet swinging back and forth, stirring up a bit more confetti.

"You do realize that monster truck show is tomorrow night, right?" Tom said.

"I know! Isn't it great? I hate waiting!"

"Magic City Arena is in Billings," Maddie said, "That's a three-hour drive from here, not counting the three hours back the other direction. That's a long day of driving."

"Alright! How about... We could stay the night there!? Drive back on Monday morning?"

"Tom and I have work on Monday, and you have school," Maddie said gently.

"Then I'll just run there myself!"

"No, you're not going alone to a big city," Tom said.

"Big city?! Billings is way smaller than San Francisco!"

"That may be true, but we can't let you go to Billings all by yourself."

"What!? C'mon! You guys never let me go anywhere outside of Green Hills!"

"That's because you're safe here," she said.

"Safe from what!? Robotnik's gone!"

"You watch your tone," Tom said, "Frankly, it's a miracle the U.S. government hasn't sent any other maniacal scientists here looking for you. Is that what you want? You want them to find you and experiment on you?"

Sonic huffed and shook his head, his ears flattening.

Tom knelt down to him. "Look, I know how badly you want to go. I'll take you to the monster truck show next year. I promise."

"Next year!? I can't wait that long! I wanna go now!" He was starting to whine a bit. He knew it, but he couldn't help it. It wasn't fair.

"You need to learn that you can't always get what you want," Maddie said, kneeling next to Tom.

"What are you guys gonna do, stop me?" Sonic snickered. As if.

Maddie's eyes widened. "Excuse me?"

"Alright. You need to apologize to Maddie and lose that bad attitude right now," Tom said.

"Or what?" Sonic dared.

"That's it. You're grounded. Go to your cave."

"What?! What is grounded!?"

"It means you're in big trouble." Tom pointed up to the attic, "You're not leaving your cave until we say so."

"No!" Sonic stood up, clenching his fists. An energy began building up in him. He couldn't control it.

"Okay then. Now you're grounded for the rest of the weekend."

"What?!"

"If you don't want more, then go upstairs."

"No! You can't tell me what to do!" His irises turned bright blue and his quills began to glow.

Tom stood up. "When you live under my roof, yes, I can tell you what to do. Now go."

Sonic glanced nervously between the both of them. They were both glaring now, but there was also a bit of fear. Fear at his power. His big mouth had gotten him into trouble once again. It just wasn't fair though! Why was he being punished for asking for something he really wanted? Where was the sense in that? He could do anything he wanted when he was living by himself. Maybe he was just kidding himself? He felt the tears coming, but he pushed them back, replacing them with anger.

"Then maybe I don't want to live under your roof anymore!" he yelled, his quills sparking.

Before Tom or Maddie could get in another word, they were blown back onto the couch by the force of Sonic's speed, the front door slamming loudly behind him, rattling the entire house. A bunch of picture frames fell off the walls, including one recent one that had all three of them in it and Ozzie licking Sonic's face. The left corner was cracked, spreading diagonally, a few shards tinkling on the floor.

"You okay?" Maddie asked as she offered Tom a hand up.

He rubbed his forehead. "What on Earth possessed me to take in a super-powered teenager from another planet?"

"Because you love him. And I do too," she pulled him close and they hugged each other tightly. "He's just got some growing up to do. He's had to take care of himself for the last 10 years."

"I know," He kissed her forehead, "I'll go after him."

"Do you want me to come with?"

"No, you should stay here, in case he comes back."

She nodded and kissed his cheek. "I'll call you if he does."

Tom had a good idea where Sonic might have gone.

Tom knelt down in front of the large hole in the forest floor. Sonic had been living here for 10 years, by himself, without anyone (save for Crazy Carl) being the wiser. If there was anywhere else he felt safe, it was probably here.

"Sonic?" He shouted into the hole. It echoed a little. "It's me."

Tom sat back on his haunches for a moment but heard no answer.

"Don't make me crawl in there," he muttered, but did so anyway. It wasn't the first time, as it had taken him and Maddie quite a while to move all of his things out of here into his new room in their attic, but it wasn't exactly designed for anyone taller than Sonic.

When Tom did emerge into the larger portion of the cave, he was surprised to see that Sonic wasn't here. Something else was though. He reached down and picked up an envelope with his name on it.

Tom sighed. This wasn't good.

After hesitating, he opened it and pulled out a hastily scribbled letter. He recognized Sonic's handwriting immediately:

_Dear Donut Lord,_

_By the time you read this, I'll be in Billings. I borrowed your GPS from your truck, but I'll bring it back. Please don't follow me. I promise I won't let anyone see me. I'll be back home by 10:30pm tomorrow. Then you can ground me all you want._

_Love,  
Sonic_

"Why did I show him how to work my GPS?" Tom said, but he knew that even lack of direction wouldn't stop Sonic from finding what he wanted.

At the very least, Tom knew exactly where Sonic had gone, but bringing him back was going to be a headache. He had to go, though. If anything happened to that little blue devil, he'd never forgive himself.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

_This little plot bunny ended up running way longer than intended, but I really liked where it was going, so I split this little adventure into two parts. __Also, thanks everyone for your kind words and support. I'm glad I'm not the only one who fell in love with this universe._

_Edit: Small change made to Sonic's address - corrected from my 4th viewing of the movie._


	3. Monster Truck Blues - Part 2

**Monster Truck Blues - Part 2**

Billings, Montana wasn't nearly as big as San Francisco, but Sonic the Hedgehog still stood in awe, hidden among the trees on a hill, looking down at the city and the big arena complex where Monster Brawl was taking place tomorrow night. He was pretty sure he didn't need Tom's GPS anymore so he packed it away inside his small leather pouch slung over his shoulder. He hadn't brought anything else, including his precious golden rings, which he had been keeping hidden in his cave for safety. After everything that had happened with Robotnik, he was careful to never use them again - for any reason. He only had so many left, and who knew if he would ever need them again. That was the one thing he and Tom had agreed about.

During his run, he had begun to wonder if he should go back home. But now that he was standing here, looking down on a new adventure, he was really glad he had decided to come anyway - Tom or no Tom. Part of him wished Tom had wanted to come with him. How could you not love over-sized vehicles battling for ultimate supremacy!? He knew Tom would be mad and he figured this whole "grounded" thing might last a lot longer than just a weekend at this point, but that was something for future Sonic to deal with. Present Sonic was-

Sonic's stomach grumbled loudly and he realized two things. One, he should have packed some food, and two, he needed something fun to do to distract himself until tomorrow night, which suddenly felt like it was years away. Poor planning aside, he was here now, so he might as well make the most of it. He took off, blazing around the city, grabbing any tourist brochures he found to try and find something to do.

He stopped when he smelled something on the breeze. He sniffed. Was that… a chili dog?

After he had stuffed himself on them at the Piston Pit the first night he had met Tom, Sonic quickly decided that chili dogs were his favorite Earth food. He followed his nose to the source of the smell and discovered a small carnival just a few blocks from the arena.

Sonic's eyes widened. He had never seen anything like a carnival in person before, just on movies and TV. The rides looked fun and he was assaulted from all directions by new smells and the cacophony of people chatting, screaming with joy, and laughing. This place would definitely keep him entertained for the rest of the day and night!

No one seemed to notice him as he sneaked about, which was good, because… well, he didn't have any money. His stomach grumbled again. Tom had reiterated to him that stealing was wrong, but this was an emergency, and besides, Sonic was only taking a little. Someone wouldn't miss one little chili dog that badly, right?

Sonic hid near the chili dog stand, watching it for a few minutes, scoping out how the chili dogs were made, bought, and then taken. The line was thinning out, and he figured this would be the best time, when less people were around.

He watched carefully as the next customer, a large man with a bald head, stepped up to the window and ordered several chili dogs. Perfect! The man stepped aside to the pick-up window and Sonic readied himself, picking up a discarded soda can from the ground.

When the chili dogs arrived at the pick-up window, Sonic pitched the soda can at the steel barrel that was serving as a trash can. The man jumped at the loud bang, whipping around to see the soda can rattling on the ground.

Sonic blasted over and snatched one of the paper trays, but was shocked when he saw the face of the man he was stealing from turn back to face him. He didn't even realize that time had resumed normally for a moment.

"Bear!?" Sonic exclaimed.

Sonic knew this biker guy. He was the same one who had started the bar fight at the Piston Pit, the one who had called them "hipsters" and nearly beaten up Tom. He was also the same angry guy who Sonic had dropped a taxidermy bear head onto and pretty-much humiliated him.

"Uh-oh."

"YOU!" Bear growled fiercely, "I'm gonna kill you, you little blue-" He lunged.

"Whoa!" Sonic dodged him easily, "Gotta catch me first!" He was gone in a blue streak.

All Bear caught in his meaty fists was the dust on the ground. He pounded it furiously and scrambled to his feet, chasing after Sonic.

Sonic zipped around the carnival several more times until he was sure he lost him, ducking behind the back of the Tilt-a-Whirl. He leaned against the cool metal and slumped down. He looked at his tasty prize, which was still steaming hot. Better not let it go to waste, he thought, and began munching it quietly, glad that was all over. That had been too close. It was nothing he couldn't handle though. He was old enough to take care of himself.

The encounter with "Bear" the biker was soon forgotten as Sonic lost himself in the wonders of the carnival. He was particularly interested in the arcade midway and spent a long time analyzing each of the games. There were a lot of prizes on display but he didn't see too many people walking around with them.

One particular game caught his eye: the ring bottle toss. Sonic pushed his head between two jumbo stuffed toys and watched as the kids and adults below him were given buckets of red plastic rings. He watched as the players tossed rings over across a long table covered in a sea of glass bottles that were arranged in perfect rows inside a giant wooden box. The rings ricocheted off the bottles, off each other, and most of them either clattered onto the ground or fell down between the bottles.

"C'mon, c'mon!" He cheered quietly, but one after another, each of the thrown rings failed to hook around the bottlenecks.

One particularly crafty player did a coin flip with his ring and it bounced around before landing on the bottle, but the attendant pointed to a sign that said, the ring must come to rest around the neck of the bottle. The player only argued for a moment before giving up and leaving, hands shoved in his pockets.

"Okay, that one was totally around it! I saw it!" Sonic was feeling just as flustered as the players were.

There was one little girl and her father left at the moment. She looked a little younger than Cousin Jojo and only had one red ring left in her plastic bucket, which she held up.

"Dad, what if I don't make it?"

"We can play a different game, sweetheart."

"But I want that sea turtle," She said, pointing up at the stuffed animal hanging across from where Sonic was perched.

"You can't always get what you want," he said softly, and the little girl sighed, looking at the ring in her palm.

Sonic frowned. Was that some kind of universal parent mantra or something?

"Here goes," she said, and carefully underhand-flipped it towards the center of all the bottles. Sonic could tell she was aiming for the special bottle, painted gold around the opening - if you landed a ring around that one, one of the big signs said you could win your choice of prize.

Sonic wasn't about to let her lose, glowing blue as he sped towards the ring.

The ring hit the bottle, but it started to bounce off. Sonic lined himself up and slapped it back down, but it hit another bottle instead and went off in another direction. Unfortunately, he was adding too much force to his hits, making it bounce off more bottles. This only made him more frustrated and he sped up.

"Stay on there!"

The little girl and her Dad were shocked when her last shot not only went wild, but became a blue blur of speed. The attendant also stepped out of the way, all of them looking wide-eyed at the red ring.

At last Sonic lined it up vertically and he spiked it down hard towards the gold-painted bottle. It started to bounce off, but this time he landed and kept slapping it down until it finally settled around the bottleneck.

"Woo-hoo! Nailed it!"

Sonic realized too late that he was now just standing on all of the bottles, in plain view of everyone.

"Uh," Sonic started to run but slipped on the bottle tops, flailing his arms to right himself and falling backwards onto the ground, a bunch of the bottles tumbling onto and around him. At least they weren't breaking, which was good, but he had other immediate problems to worry about.

"Whoa!"

"What is that?!"

Sonic groaned and pulled himself to his feet, realizing there was a huge crowd gathering around the game booth now, blocking all directions, people pulling out their cameras to take a photo or video of him.

He held out his hands to cover his face, but the flashes continued as the game attendant reached down towards him.

He had to get out of here, now! He leaped onto the counter and thankfully, the crowd backed up, a little terrified of what he might do as he glowed an even brighter blue, a spark rolling down his quills. All, except one person who barreled towards him. It was Bear again, of course.

"Stop him!" Bear yelled as he lunged to grab Sonic, "Thief!"

Sonic took one look at his shining bald head and decided to play this one literally head on, leaping and stomping down on Bear's head, using it as a springboard to leap over the crowd. He flew over their heads and tucked into a ball, bouncing off several structures and one guy who wasn't paying attention before rolling to a stop under one of the metal trailers.

Sonic crawled out, scrambled to his feet, and took off running. He didn't stop until he left the carnival grounds, skidding into some bushes near the tree line. He dared to look back at the carnival and saw Bear stomping around the exit, looking for him.

"Looks like I can cross win a carnival game and outrun a bear off my bucket list," he said, laughing to himself, but only halfheartedly.

The sun was beginning to set and Sonic's jaw dropped as the bright lights of the carnival suddenly switched on all at once, making it seem even more magical. Now he really, really, really wanted to go on the rides, but… He watched carefully as Bear seemed to give up at last and go back inside.

He wasn't scared of Bear. He just had to be more careful, that was all. So a few people saw him. It was fine, right? He really, really, really hoped that was fine.

Sonic knew he should probably leave and find somewhere else to hang out, but he found he just couldn't resist the lure of the colorful lights as the sky continued to darken. He did at least force himself to wait a little longer before venturing back inside, sticking to the shadows, keeping an eye out for Bear.

Sonic quickly discovered the hardest part about getting on the rides was doing so unnoticed, which became a problem for certain rides where he would run the risk of being locked inside. That meant no Zipper Ride or Gravitron, but also no rides where he would be easy to spot him on like the Big Swings, the Roller Coaster, and the Swinging Ship.

However, he was pretty sure he could get away with at least three: The Tilt-a-Whirl (which looked AMAZING), the Ferris Wheel, and the one that excited him most of all, a haunted house ride that was simply called The Chamber of Horrors. Sonic decided to save that one for last.

Sonic made his way to the Tilt-a-Whirl and watched it a few times to get a feel for when it would be good to hop on. He saw his chance when one of the ones in the back was left open and he zipped over the fence, hurrying in and pulling down the bar. He hid himself as the tired attendant came by, who nudged the bar, saw it was secure, and kept going. Sonic scooted to the center and psyched himself up.

When the ride started, his high-backed car only started rolling back and forth gently at first, but he began to gain momentum as the platform spun, moving up and down. He squealed when it did a complete rotation, the centrifugal force pulling him to one side. He quickly learned he could keep it going if he leaned at just the right time and was able to get twirling very fast. His stomach fluttered and he laughed out loud as he swerved up and down and all around the track several times. Unfortunately, it was all over a little too soon for his taste as the ride slowed to a crawl. But as the lap bar released and he stood up, he suddenly realized he was a lot dizzier than he thought, stumbling a bit as he fell over the railing, landing instinctively into a ball. He laughed for a moment more as he uncurled until he realized his lunch was coming back with a vengeance. He just managed to make it to the nearest trash can before puking.

"Tilt-a-Whirl? More like tilt and hurl," Sonic said, wiping his mouth, "I'm never riding that again."

Now that his nausea was gone, he was back to scoping out the other rides, the incident quickly forgotten.

The Ferris Wheel was much easier to climb aboard, slipping into the gently swaying car. He was in luck because it came to a stop at the very top, loading in a small family of passengers below. He stood up on the seat and peered down over the side, instantly regretting it, sitting back down, and deciding that facing forward was a good direction.

From up here, he could see most of the carnival itself and the monster truck arena in the distance, which made him smile. He found himself wishing again that Tom and Maddie were here. It was fun riding the rides, but he bet it would be even more fun with someone you cared about. After loading in a few more passengers into the cars below, the Ferris Wheel lurched forward again and began to spin. Sonic hopped off as it neared the bottom, sliding down one of the steel rails and dropping quietly to the ground.

Sonic hurried to his last attraction of the evening: THE CHAMBER OF HORRORS (shown all in caps with blinding white light bulbs that flashed to red every few seconds), which was essentially a giant metal trailer spray painted to look like a haunted castle, complete with flickering fake torches, plastic gargoyles, and huge "wooden" gates that swung open and shut, allowing the excited riders to pass through on their tiny black mine carts. Expertly spray-painted all over the entire building were huge, colorful murals of famous movie monsters, some of them grotesquely distorted for greater scare factor. He could identify a few of the characters, but Tom and Maddie weren't big on horror movies, so many of them were new to him and utterly terrifying in a good way. He made a note to try and find some of these movies to watch later.

This dark ride was a bit harder to sneak onto, but Sonic managed, hoping into an empty cart as the ride attendant turned their back. He slid under the lap bar and ducked out of sight, holding on as the little rickety mine cart moved forward through the gaping doors, shutting loudly behind him and leaving him in almost complete darkness. He sat up and held onto the lap bar, looking around.

A fake thunderstorm boomed, followed by flashing lights that lit up scary looking trees that branched above him, some of them looking like hands reaching to grab him. He flinched when a loud buzzer sounded and a fake ghost on some kind of lever popped up behind a tombstone.

"You call that scary?" It let out a badly recorded evil laugh as it lowered itself back down.

Sonic shifted in his seat, wishing the backs of the carts were a little taller. He suddenly felt very exposed in here, like anything could jump out at him. He looked around in a panic, but he was the only one on the ride at the moment.

"Definitely not scary," he told himself. The cart turned into another small room that had a bunch of grandfather clocks, ticking and tocking until one of the cases lit up with cartoonish skeleton bones stuffed inside, making another ridiculous horn noise. He flinched again, but that was only because these were cheap jump scares. His cart turned sharply and a giant tank of water lit up. A very fake severed clown head moved and jiggled inside it as a bike horn honked.

"Okay, I think I want off now."

But the ride continued and he was pulled into another room, this time with a bunch of prison bars all around him. The lights flashed on and off rapidly as a bunch of fake prisoners "shook" the bars, making horrible noises. The flickering lights made everything feel more real somehow. A few prisoners were wearing potato sacks over their heads or scary masks, but the last one had a fake bear head and that was a little too much for Sonic. He screamed, ducking down.

Thankfully, the ride was over, and it spit him out the exit doors. He scrambled out of the mine cart as soon as the lap bar released and stumbled down the exit, nearly stumbling to the ground. He could still hear the sounds of the ride as he sped away. He didn't stop until he neared the back of the roller coaster.

"For the record, most of that ride was totally lame, but I don't feel like doing that again," he said and his stomach grumbled again.

"I didn't think I'd ever feel like eating again after losing my lunch, but here we are," he admitted.

Well, there was one quick remedy he could think of… He would just have to be extra careful now. Maybe he was being too cautious, though? He doubted Bear was even still around the carnival. He hadn't seen him at all since he started riding everything. That had to have been at least an hour ago.

Sonic cautiously peered around the corner of his hiding spot, watching the chili dog stand. It wasn't as busy as it was earlier in the day, but there were still a few people lining up. He scanned the nearby picnic tables and his eyes widened. No way!

Someone had abandoned a perfectly good chili dog on one of the picnic tables. It was sitting in the back next to some other empty trays and cups, so Sonic guessed that's why no one had taken notice of it. That made it perfect for him to take though! This was his first lucky break of the whole day and he wasn't about to let it go to waste.

He ran in, snatched the paper tray and zipped back to his hiding place. He leaned back against the metal trailer and sighed, taking a bite and just watching the octopus ride nearby animate and the people walking by, all of the colorful lights flashing rhythmically to some stock music. His chili dog tasted perfect. He looked up at the sky. The carnival had too much light pollution blocking out most of the stars, but it was still a beautiful night. He quickly wolfed down the rest of the chili dog as a chilly wind blew by.

Speaking of night, he'd have to find somewhere to sleep. Somewhere safe for that matter. He now realized how used he was to sleeping in a warm bed with a roof over his head. The ground wasn't feeling nearly as comfortable as it used to be. Seems he hadn't thought ahead about that either.

Sonic hugged himself, looking up at the stars. He clutched his leather bag, opening it to make sure Tom's GPS was still there. It was, but he didn't want to look at it for long, closing it back up. All he could think of now was what the last thing he had said to Tom...

_Then maybe I don't want to live under your roof anymore!_

Did he really mean that? What if Tom was relieved he was gone? Maybe the Wachowskis were better off without Sonic there messing up everything...

Sonic yawned. He hadn't realized how tired he was. Like, really tired. How late was it, anyway? He realized he didn't have a watch and there weren't any clocks nearby. Maybe it was time to find somewhere to sleep?

Something felt wrong though. His steps felt heavy, like he had boulders for feet. He stumbled and steadied himself against the wall, but he started to slide down, unable to keep his grip. He was losing feeling in his fingers.

"Huh?" he looked at his own hand as he fell forward, hitting the dirt.

He had just enough energy left to keep his eyes open a few moments more, watching as a pair of biker boots stepped towards him. Then his vision doubled as his eyelids fluttered closed, his mind enveloped by darkness.

* * *

**Author's Note: **_Cliffhanger! Remember when I said this was two parts? Well, now part 3 is on the way. (This is what happens when you don't plan ahead, folks; something Sonic and I have in common.) I could have squished this into two, but I don't want to force the pacing, and three equal parts just feels better. I'll be finishing this little story in the next one. Just think of it as a three-parter for a TV show._


	4. Monster Truck Blues - Part 3

**Monster Truck Blues - Part 3**

"How's the search going?" Maddie's voice was soft but full of hope.

Tom didn't want to disappoint her.

"You can tell me."

"Badly," Tom admitted. "I asked around at the arena all afternoon, but no one's seen him today. He didn't call home?" He was afraid he already knew her answer, but it couldn't hurt to ask.

"No..."

"Don't worry. I'm not coming back without him."

"I know you won't. Just... make sure you sleep tonight," she said, "I know how you get when you're working on a case."

Tom sighed, "Do you think... I was too hard on him?"

"No. We have to set good boundaries with him. I just hope he's found somewhere safe to sleep tonight."

"Me too," Tom said, looking at the empty bed next to him, remembering Sonic wrapped up comically in towels and slippers, grinning at him. He was just a kid, after all.

"Hey!" She squealed as Tom suddenly heard a dog panting close to the phone receiver. "Ozzie says hello," Maddie said with a laugh, "He brought his favorite toy to the front door. He was waiting for both of you all night. I finally convinced him to come sit with me on the couch."

"You two should get some sleep too," Tom said, "Love you."

"Love you. Call me the minute you find him," she said.

"I will," Tom said and hung up.

Tom had trouble falling asleep so he left on the news, but eventually, his exhaustion took over and he nodded off while watching, remote still in his hand.

* * *

When Sonic began to drift back to consciousness, he realized his cheek was cold and numb. He lifted his head carefully, his chin sliding against something metal. One of his ears flickered. He didn't hear the sounds of the busy carnival goers anymore, but he could hear some loud engines running close by. Did he fall asleep on one of the rides?

His eyes barely opened, but wherever he was, he figured it must still be night because it was pitch dark now. His eyes adjusted after a few moments, but all he could make out were vague, dark shapes. What happened?

He tried to sit up, stiffening when a bit of pain shot through his shoulders. He must have slept in a weird position. He was laying on his side. He tried to stretch his arms and realized they were bound together with rope. He twisted, discovering his wrists were also bound tightly.

"Huh?" He managed as he tried moving his legs, discovering they were also bound at the ankles. He continued to shift, trying to wiggle out of them, the metal under him bending and banging as he moved around.

A few seconds later he heard footsteps. A metal door opened, light flooding in as a flashlight blinded him. He yelped when a hand roughly grabbed the back of his head, yanking on his quills.

"How the hell are you awake?"

Sonic couldn't see the man's face through the flashlight, but he knew instantly it was Bear. He smelled like sweat and barbeque - but mostly sweat. He was carrying a small duffel bag over his shoulder, which he flung down next to Sonic, rifling through it.

"I put enough sleeping pills in that hot dog to put a full-grown bull to sleep!" He pulled out a bottle of pills and aimed the flashlight, squinting to read the instructions on the back.

"Don't bother. I've got a fast metabolism," Sonic stumbled over the word, managing half a grin. He liked that word too. Metabolism. His cheek still felt numb.

"Damnit!" Bear threw the bottle of pills into the truck bed. They rolled past Sonic's cheek, rattling loudly.

"You do know kidnapping a minor is illegal in the state of Montana, right?" Sonic said, now sort of happy he had read the boring police books in Tom's squad car. "That's at least 10 years in prison if not-"

"It ain't kidnapping if you're wanted by the US government. And you're worth a lot of money."

Sonic managed a laugh, "Hope you like never-ending pasta bowls."

Bear grabbed him roughly again, "You won't be laughing once they start dissecting you."

Sonic tried not to picture that. "You'd better let me go right now, or-"

"Or what?" Bear glared at him.

Sonic was quiet for a moment, "Uh, can I get back to you on that?"

Bear yanked him out of what Sonic now realized was the covered bed of a very old pick-up truck. Bear tucked him under one of his beefy, smelly arms. He could only see below him and saw the tell-tale white on black lines of a parking lot. Where was he? And where was Bear taking him? Bear was nearly crushing him to his side, not leaving any room to wiggle. He was having trouble breathing.

It wasn't until Sonic heard the sound of heavy-duty engines revving that he realized where they were. He twisted to his side as they passed a tall chain-link fence separating the regular parking lot from the giant monster truck parking lot. Many of them were being tuned up or were revving up to show off, small crowds gathering around the most popular ones. They were all too far away and too busy to notice them behind the fence.

"Wait, what are you doing at Monster Brawl?" Sonic asked.

"I drive JAWBREAKER," he said, emphasizing it by grinding his teeth together.

Sonic laughed. "Wait, wait. Let me get this straight. You named your monster truck after a piece of candy?"

"I named it after what I do to my enemies," Bear said, tightening his grip, making Sonic wince.

They passed through an open gate and Bear came to a stop in front of a monster truck near the back. Sonic struggled to look up and caught sight of the name, "JAWBREAKER" emblazoned with red, white, and purple spray paint, surrounded by exploding teeth and giant rusty gears grinding them up.

"Who are you trying to scare anyway, dentists?" Sonic quipped, until Bear slammed him against one of the huge Terra tires. Sonic winced. Thankfully, his quills cushioned his head.

"Shut your mouth, or I'll shut it for you," Bear said, dropping him on the ground.

Sonic mocked him behind his back as he walked away only briefly to drag over a rolling safety ladder, shoving it up against the window of the truck. He picked up Sonic again and carried him up the ladder, shoving him into the driver's seat and buckling him into the safety harness.

"Wait, you're gonna let me drive your monster truck?"

"No! You're gonna sit tight right here until the men in black come to pick you up."

"When are they-" Sonic nearly choked on the oily cloth being shoved into his mouth. It tasted disgusting and it smelled just as bad as Bear did. He tried to spit it out but Bear pressed a long piece of duct tape across his muzzle.

"Not soon enough," Bear said, layering a few more strips of tape on top for good measure. He shoved the rest of the duct tape back into his duffel bag, zipping it closed.

Sonic twisted, but he couldn't pry the tape loose, breathing heavily through his nose. He growled at Bear, but it was muffled. Bear grabbed his head and glared at him.

"Now STAY," Bear yelled, before releasing him and climbing back down the ladder. The wheels squeaked as he moved the ladder away.

Within moments, Sonic was all alone. He stretched, but he couldn't reach any of the pedals, the steering column or dashboard with his feet. His shoulders were locked against the seat with the safety harness. He still had his small leather bag, it was resting against his chest, but it felt lighter. Had Bear taken his GPS too? Not that getting home even mattered at this point. He had to escape this truck first.

Maybe he could signal for help somehow? Except he was way high up, there was no one around, and even without the gag, people would have trouble hearing him over all the noise in the arena.

After a few minutes, Sonic stopped struggling, looking despondently out the window. He might as well save his strength. His only chance to escape would be when the "men in black" came, whenever that was. He had a feeling it wouldn't be Will Smith or Tommy Lee Jones either.

From what he could see out of the Jawbreaker's window, he was on the outer edge of the arena. Most of the other monster trucks were being moved into the arena itself, but there were a few out here like Jawbreaker still being worked on. This time of night though, everyone seemed to be dispersing and heading home. Home…

Sonic quickly became bored and lost track of how much time passed, but eventually, the stadium lights darkened down to just the safety lights and the last few people left. It became eerily quiet, save for a few loud noises every now and then. He looked up at the sky and wished he had just listened to Tom and gone to his cave. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep, shivering in the cold air blowing through the exposed chassis. Eventually, he did pass out. No nightmares though, just blissful unconsciousness.

* * *

Tom woke up before dawn, feeling slightly refreshed, but more stressed out than before. He stopped only for a small coffee and a donut in a drive-thru before heading straight to the arena.

Last night he had purchased himself a Monster Brawl 2020 VIP Pass just to give himself as much access as possible, figuring that Sonic was probably sneaking around those areas. He had to put it on his credit card, but that was the last of his worries at this point. He had already used most of his spare money getting here and staying at the cheapest motel he could. What was another hundred dollars at this point? In for a penny, in for a pound, as they say. He just hoped he could find him before the event started. He only had a few hours left before the crowds would get too thick to search. He'd never find him then.

This morning was his last shot. He wasn't going to waste it. He downed the rest of his coffee.

"I've got to think like Sonic. If I was him, what would I want to see first?" He reached into the passenger seat and pulled over the small swag bag they had given him, searching for the program guide and event map. He unfolded the large map and traced his finger back and forth across it, looking at each of the major events.

"Swag? Souvenirs!" He said, remembering when Sonic had stopped off at the World's Largest Rubber Band Ball Gift Shop. Of course Sonic would want to get a little monster truck to take home - or a hat - or pretty much anything not nailed down that he could conceivably carry. Tom sighed, hoping Sonic hadn't actually cleaned the place out. He did not want to take out a second mortgage just to pay for Sonic's shopping spree.

But when Tom arrived at the gift shop, he didn't see Sonic anywhere. He took out his smartphone and quickly pulled up the snapshot of him he had used yesterday. Most of them were goofy selfies Sonic had taken when he thought Tom wasn't looking, but he had found one that was decent - it was one Maddie had taken, when he was playing with Ozzie in the backyard. She had texted it to him and he had saved it on his phone. Now he was very glad he had.

"Hey, my kid's missing. Have you seen him?" Tom asked, showing the worker behind the counter. He looked barely out of high school, and strangely enough, that made him only slightly older than Sonic.

"Let me see," the worker zoomed into the photo. "Weird kid."

"Yeah, it's genetic," Tom said quickly, hoping not to get into any lengthy discussion, "Long story..."

"Actually, you know what?" He handed back Tom's phone and pulled out his own.

Tom waited patiently as the young worker tapped and scrolled furiously on his phone. "Just a sec…"

Tom was beginning to think the kid was ignoring him and checking his social media when he stopped and looked up at him. "Yeah! Here we go! This is him, right?" He turned his phone to show Tom.

And there, on the kid's phone, was indeed a picture of Sonic, looking rather sheepish standing on top of a carnival game. "That's him, alright." Tom replied with a grimace.

"When did you take this?"

"Last night. He was at the carnival."

"Carnival?"

"Yeah, not too far from here. It's just here for the weekend, for Monster Brawl."

Of course. A traveling carnival. That explained why he hadn't seen him all night yesterday. That carnival probably kept him busy for the whole evening.

"You said he's missing? He ran away?"

"Yeah," Tom put away his phone, "How did you know?"

"Just a hunch," the kid shrugged, "Hey, I could try paging him on the PA system, if you want?"

"Actually, that's a great idea!"

"What's his name?"

"Sonic."

"Last name?"

Tom hesitated a moment before saying, "Wachowski."

A few moments later, the PA system crackled. "Paging Sonic Wachowski, Paging Sonic Wachowski. Please come to the information booth. Your dad is waiting for you."

"I'm not really his dad," Tom admitted, "It's… Well, it's complicated…"

"Hey, it's cool. I used to feel the same way about my step-dad," the worker admitted, "I used to cause big trouble for him too. Ran off a couple times and had him worried sick. Trust me, he'll wise up when he gets a little older."

"Thanks," Tom said, unsure what to say to this kind kid.

"I'll tell my coworkers to keep an eye out for him too," he said. "I gotta get back to work. Good luck!"

Tom gave him a friendly wave and headed over to the information booth. If Sonic was here, he definitely heard the PA. He just hoped he would listen for once.

* * *

Sonic's ears perked up when he heard the public announcement. Wachowski!? Donut Lord was here? Tom really did come looking for him after all! But what could he do? He had no way to signal to him that he was in here. He growled as loud as he could manage, kicking, making the truck rock a bit. It didn't do any good. Most people were walking by, completely ignoring the Jawbreaker.

* * *

Tom paced around the information booth for half an hour, watching every direction for any sign of Sonic. He continued to show his photo to anyone who would take a moment to look. He found no more leads though.

Maybe he's still mad at me, Tom thought.

Sonic had said he'd be fine on his own. It was only natural he'd hide from him after their fight yesterday. Maybe he should've just stayed home and waited for him.

But he couldn't get the photo of Sonic the kid had shown him off his mind though. He looked distraught. Even if Sonic didn't want him to be here, even if he kept running away from him, he had to make sure Sonic was okay. He couldn't give up.

"Fine, you don't want to find me? Then I'll find you," he said, unfolding the map again. He would keep looking, even if he had to search the entire arena again.

* * *

Sonic awoke to the sound of the safety ladder rolling back into place. Soon enough, Bear's head popped in the driver's window.

"Morning, sunshine," he grinned.

Sonic growled at him.

"He's all yours, fellas," he shouted down.

Bear disappeared, and true to his word, two guys in black suits and sunglasses showed up. One of them had some kind of device, which he used to scan Sonic with. His ears flattened. It beeped and they nodded to each other.

"So, where's my reward?"

Agent one pulled an envelope out of his suit as Agent two unbuckled Sonic and removed him from the truck.

Bear nearly tore the envelope out of Agent one's hands, ripping it open, and pulling out a bald eagle greeting card that said "Uncle Sam Thanks You For Your Service!" Inside was a $5 gift card for Starbucks.

"What the…" Bear fumed, throwing the gift card on the ground, "Is this some kind of joke? Where's my money!?"

Sonic squirmed with everything he had, trying to get Agent two to drop him, but Agent one grabbed his legs and they began to carry him off without a single word.

"Hey! Did you hear two knuckleheads hear me?" Bear said, picking up the gift card and throwing it at the back of Agent two's head.

Agent two turned around, and lowered his glasses just to show his glare.

This only made Bear angrier and he charged at him. Agent two dropped Sonic, meeting Bear halfway for a fist fight.

Their fight didn't last long. The government agent was strong, but Bear was raging, nearly foaming at the mouth. Agent one seemed to stare on in disbelief, as Bear knocked out his partner with a powerful punch.

Agent one immediately tucked Sonic under his arm and started running, barreling through the crowd, pushing and shoving bystanders. Sonic thought maybe the agent had lost Bear when he heard a thunderous motor revving towards them.

The agent turned just enough so Sonic could also see that Jawbreaker was heading right for them with Bear glaring at them from the driver's seat. A few security guards noticed this and tried waving Bear down to stop, only to get nearly run over themselves, jumping out of the way just in time.

One of them picked up his radio, "We got a rogue driver near Gate C! Evacuate the area!"

Now instead of standing in their way, people began panicking and running in all directions as Bear chased them down in his thundering monster truck. Agent one, perhaps realizing that heading outside would only give Bear more of an advantage began heading further into the arena, turning sharply and ducking into a doorway way too small for any car, let alone a monster truck.

Except a little thing like a wall never stopped Bear before, and he turned sharply, driving Jawbreaker through part of the huge chain-link fence separating the battle arena, crushing a few smaller ATVs and dirt bikes as more people scrambled to get out of the way.

The agent was sprinting across the dirt of the arena floor now, and looked around before spotting a nearby monster truck, a giant yellow one that was made out of an old pick-up truck but painted to look like a New York City taxi cab. The name "CRAZY TAXI" was spray painted on the side.

Agent one heaved Sonic up into the truck bed. Sonic landed with a hard thud, knocking the wind out of him as the agent scrambled up under the chassis and climbed into the truck seat. He frantically began to hot-wire the truck as Bear spotted them and revved up, getting ready to charge.

Cursing under his breath, the agent finally got the engine running and pulled into reverse, Crazy Taxi backing out of the way just as Bear barreled past in Jawbreaker, running straight up a hill and leaping through the air.

Meanwhile, agent one hit the gas and began turning, taking off for the nearest exit out of the arena, dodging dirt bikes and ATVs that were practicing on the big hills and trying to avoid the renegade monster trucks.

"Freeze! Pull over right now and step out of your vehicle!"

Agent one leaned out Crazy Taxi's window to see a plain-clothes man aiming a handgun, blocking the way to the exit. Agent one revved up and blasted forward, Tom barely managed to dive of the way. Crazy Taxi blasted past him, chugging up the nearest hill. Tom gasped when he spotted Sonic in the truck bed, bound and gagged, sliding down, hitting the tailgate.

"Sonic!" He had to hurry! Tom ran towards the edge of the arena, hoping this plan wouldn't backfire.

After cresting the hill, Crazy Taxi slid down the other side and Agent one swerved sharply, heading again for an open exit. He was blocked again as Jawbreaker flew through the air, landing on Crazy Taxi's hood with a grinding crunch. The tailgate popped open and Sonic spilled out the back, hitting the dirt hard, rolling a bit before skidding to a stop on his stomach. He groaned, trying to sit up.

Crazy Taxi kept pushing forward, trying to slide under Jawbreaker, but it was pinned too tightly, sliding it backwards in the dirt, one of the back wheels heading right towards Sonic.

Crazy Taxi's back wheels neared Sonic's head when a huge ambulance-shaped monster truck rammed into the back of Crazy Taxi, spinning it in the dirt and pushing it far away from Sonic. The sudden force nearly flipped Jawbreaker backwards end over end, but Bear was an experienced driver and managed to power out, holding the truck in a wheelie and then dropping it back down as soon as this newcomer truck pushed Crazy Taxi out of the way.

Sonic managed to roll on his side and caught site of the newcomer truck passing by, the sirens on the top of the ambulance-themed truck were bright and flashing, and along the side was the name "DR. PAINKILLER!" His eyes widened when he saw that Tom was sitting in the driver's seat.

Tom kept his foot hard on the pedal, pushing Crazy Taxi back until it got enough momentum to roll on its side and crash into the wall upside down, disabling it. He then threw Dr. Painkiller in reverse, spinning around to head back into the arena.

Meanwhile, Jawbreaker was turning around as well. Bear spotted Sonic in the middle of the field and revved up. "I've got you now, blue devil! YOU'RE ROADKILL!"

Tom saw Jawbreaker barreling towards Sonic. He reached to his right and fired off the nitro tank, blasting him forward. Please make it, please make it, he chanted under his breath.

Sonic closed his eyes tightly as a shadow moved over him, hoping it would all be over quickly.

Dr. Painkiller was going so fast that it crashed into Jawbreaker from the side, crunching it and rolling it over onto its side, the tires spinning out in the dirt. Tom furiously unbuckled himself, hurrying to climb out down under the chassis. He stumbled down as he ran to Sonic's side.

He was afraid to touch him, worried he might have broken bones or worse. The kid was bound head to toe and covered in various scratches and bruises. Sonic looked up at him weakly, trying to mumble something through his gag.

But given how dangerous this arena was, and how close he'd been to getting run over, Tom decided to risk moving him and scooped Sonic up into his arms, holding him close to his chest as he ran for the nearest door leading out of the arena. Tom yelled over the noise, "I've got you!"

They left behind a wave of chaos in their wake as tons of other vehicles flooded the track, including an actual ambulance, a fire-truck, and four security cars that skidded next to the crashed cars, the officers pouring out and surrounding the crashed trucks.

There was so much panic going on that Tom wasn't even sure where to run to, but he finally merged into the panicked crowd and soon enough, he saw the parking lot ahead. He didn't even look back and kept running until he spotted his pick-up truck in the lot. People were leaving in droves and hundreds more were just gathered around, trying to make sense of the chaos unfolding.

Tom was never so relieved to see his crappy pick-up truck. It wasn't nearly as nice as his old Toyota had been, the one that Robotnik's badniks had sliced open like a tin can, but this one was a gift from the townsfolk of Green Hills after Sonic defeated Robotnik and it had a refurbished engine, courtesy of Crazy Carl. It was enough to get them both home alive, and that's what mattered to him.

"You idiot," Tom said, opening the passenger side and setting Sonic down in the seat, "You could've been killed!"

Tom began peeling the tape off him. Sonic spit out the dirty cloth, tears filling his eyes.

"Tom, I'm sorry..." Sonic managed. His voice sounded hoarse and dry. It didn't sound like him at all.

"Are you hurt?"

Sonic shook his head, his ears folded down.

Tom sighed and dug out his pocket knife, beginning to cut through the ropes, being careful not to cut him as he did so. "I've been looking all over for you."

Sonic couldn't bear to look at Tom in the eye, and so Tom worked in silence for a few moments until he had finished. Sonic reached out to him and Tom picked him up, hugging him tightly.

Sonic returned the gesture, nuzzling into his shoulder. "I'm sorry," he said quietly again.

"Never do that again."

Sonic squeezed him tighter, nodding, sniffling a bit.

Police sirens began to echo and Tom looked back at the arena worriedly. He did not want to stick around for this mess.

"Okay, let's get going. It's gonna be a long drive home."

Tom carefully set Sonic down back into the car and the kid immediately buckled his seatbelt, without even being reminded, rubbing his glove under his nose and then wiping his eyes. Tom offered him a tissue and Sonic blew hard, crumpling it up and tossing it towards a little waste bag near his feet. He missed, but Tom picked it up for him.

Tom shut the passenger door for him and ran around to the driver's side, pulling out his keys and starting up the truck as he sat inside. Before they got going, he looked over one more time at Sonic, "I don't need to drive you to the hospital, do I?"

"I just wanna go home," he said, leaning his head against the window.

"You got it."

* * *

Once they had cleared the city limits and were back on the highway towards Green Hills, Tom had Sonic call Maddie to let them know they'd be home in time for dinner. She was overjoyed but demanded to know everything that had happened. Tom promised to fill her in, saying Sonic needed to rest for now. Maddie agreed and told them she loved them both and to hurry home.

* * *

When they arrived home, Maddie insisted on giving them both a full inspection, patching up any wounds she could find, no matter how minor. They were both covered in various sizes of bandages when she was done. To her, it seemed like a miracle that neither of them had broken anything or done worse to their bodies. They could both be so reckless.

She kissed Tom's cheek and smirked when she saw Sonic lean forward for one too. He certainly didn't deserve one, but she kissed Sonic's cheek anyway, before blowing a raspberry into it, making him laugh. She lifted him down from the kitchen counter, Ozzie taking over and licking Sonic, his tail wagging fiercely. Maddie packed up her first aid kit.

"Dinner should be ready soon, so don't go too far," she said to him.

"Am I still grounded?" he asked.

They both turned to look at him, glaring.

"What do you think?" Maddie said sharply, snapping the first aid kit closed.

"Forever, huh?" Sonic sighed.

Tom ruffled his quills, "No, just for now. We'll talk about it."

* * *

After dinner, the whole family crashed on the couch to enjoy a movie, Sonic sitting between Maddie and Tom with Ozzie laying across Tom's lap. Not even twenty minutes into the movie, Sonic was snoring lightly, leaning against Maddie, one arm wrapped around her.

"Look," Maddie said quietly.

Tom looked down at him, smiling.

"Isn't he cute?" Maddie asked, softly booping his nose as he snored.

"Yeah, you would never guess he's such a butthole when he's awake," Tom said, smoothing out his quills.

"I was thinking," Maddie said, "Maybe it's time we made this official."

"This?" Tom gestured to all of them.

Maddie nodded.

"It's gonna be a lot of red tape, that's for sure."

"Yeah, but think of how much it would mean to him."

Tom continued to pet Sonic's soft quills and nodded. "I'll stop by Town Hall tomorrow. Someone's bound to know." He switched off the movie and the TV.

"You put Ozzie in his kennel and I'll put this guy to bed," Maddie said, scooping Sonic up gently into her arms. He sighed quietly, nuzzling her shirt as she carried him towards the attic.

Sonic was falling in and out of consciousness, enjoying being held and carried. It reminded him of when Long Claw used to rock him to sleep as a baby.

Maddie tucked him into his race car bed. She removed the leather pouch he was carrying and set it on the bedside table. It felt very light and she opened it. Strange. There was nothing inside. She guessed he must've been carrying it out of habit. It was one of the only possessions he had left from his home planet.

She shrugged it off though and turned her attention back to Sonic, cupping her hands around his cheeks, nuzzling her nose against his, before kissing his forehead.

"Goodnight."

Sonic smiled and mumbled something in return, but it was lost to a wide yawn that froze halfway, turning into a loud snore.

Maddie clapped a hand over her mouth, stifling a laugh. She wished she could fall asleep that quick! The kid truly had a talent for speed, even in sleep.

Tom met her at the bottom of the ladder as she quietly folded it up into the ceiling, locking her arms around his neck.

"I knew you'd bring him home," she kissed him softly.

Tom returned it, and they lingered in the dark hallway for a moment longer, looking into each other's eyes before Maddie grabbed his hand and led him to their bedroom.

* * *

Bear sat in the back of a darkened bar, holding the GPS device in his hands. He turned it over, his eyes narrowing at the words etched on the back:

_PROPERTY OF GREEN HILLS_  
_SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT_

But Bear was most interested in the letters, "T. WACHOWSKI" embossed on black and white label tape.

"Wachowski," he said. "You're dead meat."

* * *

**Author's Note:** _I'm really glad I decided to follow this little plot bunny to its conclusion. There's more small town tales to come, so stay tuned!  
Edit: I cleaned up some of the formatting in the previous chapters so the chapter titles aren't so long and unnecessarily numbered._


	5. Two Nights at Crazy Carl's - Part 1

**Two Nights at Crazy Carl's - Part One**

"No, I understand. Thanks Pete," Tom ended the call and sighed, crossing out another name from a very long list. This wasn't looking good. He laid his head down on the kitchen table, banging it softly a few times, until the last time, when Sonic managed to slip a whoopee cushion under it.

"PBBBBBBBTTT..." It deflated loudly under his face, but Tom only reacted with an even louder sigh.

"Man, you're no fun today, are you?" Sonic said, peering over the kitchen counter and poking at his face, "I'm bored."

"See? This is exactly why you need a babysitter," Tom mumbled, sitting up and checking how many names were left on the list. He was down to two, and he wasn't excited about either of them. He threw the empty whoopee cushion aside and Sonic caught it before it hit the floor. He had already fully re-inflated it somehow. "Put that thing away," Tom said, and Sonic stuck out his tongue before doing so.

Ozzie barked, coming up to Tom and Sonic with his leash in his mouth, tail wagging furiously. Tom looked at the clock. Of course, it was that time of day.

"Sonic, can you please take Ozzie out for his walk?"

"Sure! A run sounds like fun, doesn't it, buddy?" Sonic clipped on Ozzie's leash, "Yes it does! Yes it does!"

"Not a run," Tom grabbed his shoulder, "A WALK."

"Fun killer," Sonic responded, but then added, "I'll walk him at a reasonable speed. I promise!"

"And make sure you pick up after him," Tom added, "I don't want another call from Mrs. Watterson."

"That was one time!"

"And let's keep it that way," he ruffled Sonic's quills and gave him a smile.

"Alright, Oz, let's go!" Sonic opened the door and, true to his word, he didn't run at full speed. He let Ozzie set the pace and followed easily behind. It was still pretty fast for a walk, but Tom knew he wouldn't go supersonic, and that's what mattered as he watched them go.

"We'll be fiiiiine!" Sonic called, waving at him as they turned onto the road.

Now that Sonic was out of his hair, he could finally concentrate. He looked at the list. Two names left. Might as well get this over with, he thought and pushed Wade's name on his contacts, holding his phone up to his ear as the dial-tone rang.

"Hey Tom!" Wade's cheery voice was a little loud. He lowered the volume a few ticks. "What's up?"

"Hey Wade, I was wondering if Sonic could come stay at your house for the weekend? Maddie and I are going to be out of town for her sister's wedding."

"Wait, why isn't Sonic going with you? He's part of your family, isn't he?"

"Yes, but Rachel said he wasn't invited, and, to be honest, I agree with her. This wedding is her special day and Sonic is already a handful under normal circumstances. You know how he likes to steal the spotlight."

"Gee Tom, I mean, you know how much I love the little guy. I really would-"

"But," Tom finished for him with a sigh. Even Wade was unavailable?

"But," Wade continued, not even noticing he had said anything, "I can't. I'm going fishing up at Flathead with Dave and Stanley this weekend, remember?"

Tom didn't remember (and was kind of hurt that he hadn't been invited but Wade had) but he shrugged it off, "Yeah, I remember."

"Why did you ask me if you knew I was busy?" Wade was genuinely confused.

"Because I'm desperate!" Tom muttered angrily and hung up, without even a goodbye, scribbling Wade's name off the list.

There was only one name left, but "Crazy Carl" didn't believe in owning a telephone, so Tom was going to have to drive out there to his property to ask him personally. Fun.

At the very least, he figured he'd have enough time to make it back before Sonic and Ozzie were done with their 'walk' around Green Hills.

* * *

Tom pulled up his pick-up alongside a rickety fence along a dirt road. He got out and cupped his hands around his mouth yelling, "CARL? YOU HOME?"

He waited, leaning back on his truck, arms folded. Part of him was hoping Crazy Carl wasn't home, but on the other hand, it would be even more of a headache trying to figure out what to do with Sonic if he didn't take him for the weekend. Tom certainly couldn't leave him alone and unsupervised for three whole days. Who knows what trouble he'd get into?

"Sheriff!" Crazy Carl came running out of his house, a large folder of instant photos cradled in his arms, a few were leaking out and leaving a trail behind him. "You're just in time! I've got something to show you!"

"Carl, wait, before you-" He tried to stop him before he literally leapt the fence to meet him.

Carl thrust the manila folder into his arms, more photos spilling out on either side of the fence. On the front it said "GHOST" in big, messy letters.

"Look at this!" Carl opened the folder and pointed at the blurry instant photos, "See? I told you!"

"Told me what?" He couldn't tell what Carl was trying to show him.

"It's HIM! The Ghost of Pumpkin Hill!"

"Ghost?" Tom picked up one of the photos, "What ghost?"

The photo he was holding was showing one of the tall Ponderosa pines that ran along the back edge of his property. Tom squinted, but he didn't see anything of note in the photo.

"The ghost that's been prowling around my property!" Carl threw his arms up in the air, pointing all around them, "It's been flying around, making all kinds of groaning in the middle of the night, keeping me awake at all hours!"

"Carl, I think we-"

"See, I set up a bunch of them hidden cameras - like on them ghost hunting shows!" He dragged Tom over to a stump where a camera had been placed. It was rigged up to a Rube Goldberg machine that would make the camera shoot whenever something touched the white strings, which were strung up all over the place like some kind of spider web.

"I still don't-"

"Here!" Carl pulled out a red permanent marker and circled an object in the top photo. "Little sucker is fast, so it's hard to photograph."

Unlike the other photo of the tree, Carl had indeed taken a picture of something, but what it was, Tom wasn't sure. It was a smeared, white blob that seemed to be hovering in the air.

"And this one!" Carl set another on top, "He's got one big RED EYE, see?"

The next photo showed another view of the white blob, but this time he could see something red and glowing. The lighting was horrible, even for an instant photo.

"This is probably just a flashing red light bouncing off a window-"

"I was right about the Blue Devil," Carl reminded him, "Wasn't I?"

"Yes, Carl. You were."

"I have never lied to you. You think I'm lying about this ghost?"

"No, Carl. I just think there's a rational explanation for what's causing this."

"You always think it's something rational! Paranormal phenomena are not rational like you and me!"

Tom had to bite his lip not to laugh. "Carl, I promise I'll look into this ghost, but... I need your help first."

"My help? At last!" Carl took back his folder from Tom and slung an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close, "Well then, Sheriff! Why don't you tell old, reliable Carl what you need help with?"

"Carl, can you babysit Sonic for the weekend while Maddie and I are out of town?"

Carl seemed to mull this over, his face contorting into several strange shapes, before replying, "Well sure! He's a good kid. Pretty quick too…" He began to mutter to himself, "Hmm, maybe he can help me catch that ghost?"

"Actually, yeah, I think he'd love that." Tom was legitimately relieved. Sonic would get a kick out of going 'ghost hunting' with Carl, and then he wouldn't have to deal with this so-called ghost problem when he got back home. Two birds with one stone. "I'll bring him over tonight after dinner."

"Great! I'll get the spare bed ready for him!"

"Would you mind if Ozzie comes over too? Sonic will take care of him - feed him and what have you..."

"Of course! Ozzie's a fine dog. Probably a natural at ghost hunting too, I'd wager! Dogs have the sixth sense, you know!"

Tom smiled. Maybe this would all work out after all.

* * *

"Okay, so whose house am I staying at?" Sonic asked as he rapidly ran back and forth between his cave, loading his backpack, sleeping bag, and bean bag into the back of Tom's truck.

"Carl's."

"CARL!?" Sonic lurched to a halt with a stack of comics in hand. He looked freaked out.

"No way!" Sonic took the comics back up to his room and zipped back. He was about to grab the bean bag, when Tom blocked his way, grabbing his wrist.

"Now Sonic, just hear me out..." Tom certainly wasn't expecting this kind of reaction.

"Carl hates me!"

"He doesn't hate you."

"He tried to kill me - multiple times! You can't leave me alone with him! I'd be safer with Robotnik!"

"Hey, calm down. For one thing, you won't be alone, because Ozzie is coming with you," Tom said, lifting up a duffel bag filled with dog supplies to the bed of the truck. He whistled sharply and Ozzie came running, hopping up into the truck bed.

"Besides, all of that happened back when he thought you were some kind of urban legend. You should give him another chance. He even said you're a good kid, and I actually think he meant it."

"How come you can't stay home with me?" Sonic asked, sitting on the open tailgate.

"Believe me, I'd like to," Tom said, putting an arm around him, "You know Rachel and I don't get along that well, but I want to be there for Maddie. She's already been out there for a week helping Rachel plan everything and she needs a break."

"What if... I need something?"

"Then you run back home and give us a call. Maddie and I will have our phones on us."

"How come I can't have a phone?"

"How about this? If you prove you can behave yourself this weekend, I'll get you a phone."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. But only if there's no trouble, got it?"

"Yes sir, Sheriff Wachowski, sir!" Sonic saluted.

* * *

Soon enough, it was time for Tom to leave for the airport. As Tom drove them along the forest road to Carl's house, Sonic looked out the window, hugging Ozzie, and scratching behind his floppy ears. At least Ozzie was coming with him. He'd definitely miss sleeping in his bed too, but at least he got to bring his bean bag too. Having a bit of home always helped.

* * *

As Carl brought in the last bags from the back of the pick-up, Ozzie trotted along behind him, and Tom bent down to give Sonic a tight hug.

"Bye Sonic. Be good," Tom said.

"I will. Tell Jojo I said hi," Sonic said.

"You'll see her soon. She's gonna stay with us while Rachel and Troy go on their honeymoon."

"What's a honeymoon?"

"It's uh…" Why did Sonic have to ask something like that at the worst possible time!? "It's a special vacation that people take after they get married… to get to know each other better."

"Uh, don't they already know each other?"

"Yes, but… Look, it would take a while to explain, okay? I've got to catch my flight. Maddie and I will be back with Jojo on Sunday night to pick you up."

"Okay," Sonic folded his arms behind his head, trying to look relaxed as Tom climbed into his pick-up.

"Remember, stay out of trouble, or no phone."

"I know! Have a safe flight!" He waved.

Tom gave one last wave before driving off, watching Sonic waving in his rear-view mirror. He had a bad feeling, but he was hoping that was just some pre-trip anxiety kicking in before his flight. Surely Carl and Sonic couldn't get into that much trouble together, right? Right?

* * *

**Author's Note: **I can tell already that this tale is gonna have a couple parts too, so I hope you enjoy!


	6. Two Nights at Crazy Carl's - Part 2

**Two Nights at Crazy Carl's - Part Two**

"So, no hard feelings, right Carl?" Sonic said nervously. He certainly wasn't afraid of Crazy Carl - definitely not. What gave you that idea? He also certainly wasn't hiding behind Ozzie either and hugging him tightly in the furthest corner of Carl's living room, considering if he could still catch up to Tom's truck and somehow stowaway in his carry-on luggage. That was silly, where did you get that idea?

But Carl just laughed, surprising Sonic.

"Course not, kiddo! You saved us from that evil robot doctor, after all."

Sonic relaxed a bit, but only a bit, still clinging to Ozzie.

"Say, do you believe in ghosts?"

"Ghosts?" Sonic's ears perked up a bit. "Aren't they just... stories?"

"Stories!" Carl said and laughed, "Stories, my butt! I've seen them with my own two eyes."

"You have?" Sonic was genuinely impressed.

"Yessiree! Been hunting ghosts and all sorts of paranormal critters since I was about your age, actually. Got a whole trophy room filled with all the evidence I've collected over the years."

"You do? Can I see?"

"You want to see my trophy room?" Carl seemed genuinely surprised, "Nobody's ever been interested in it before. Everybody around town just thinks I'm crazy."

"Well, you were right about a certain handsome blue devil," Sonic said with a knowing grin, "Who knows? Maybe you're onto something?"

"A true believer!" Carl exclaimed. "Sure! C'mon, I'll show you my latest find!"

Sonic followed Carl to a room at the end of a long hallway, Ozzie trailing happily behind him, sniffing at all of the strange objects lining the hallway.

"Whoa, is this real?" Sonic pointed up at the taxidermy grizzly bear. It towered over him and it uncomfortingly reminded him of a certain biker from a certain Piston Pit. Ozzie sniffed at its feet.

"Yep, my grand-pappy Ernest Hopper, God rest his soul, fought Old Grizz here with his bare hands."

"Wait, your grandpa had bear hands?"

"Not bear hands! Bare! As in empty! No weapons! Just pure muscles and fighting instinct. Grand-pappy Ernest wrestled Old Grizz into submission."

"Uh-huh," Sonic said non-committedly, having a hard time picturing anyone like Carl wrestling any kind of wildlife - you know, other than maybe some raccoons or possums.

The door to Carl's "trophy room" was layered in warning signs like "ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK" and "STAY OUT" and "Bigfoot X-ing" and "This Area monitored by CCTV."

"Be careful what you touch," Carl said as he swung open the door, "I've got some cursed items in here too."

"Cursed?!"

"Yep, but don't worry, I've locked the worst offenders up," Carl gestured to a row of glass display cases that were locked with large combination padlocks. Each was lit by a single light inside the display box. Ozzie began sniffing around, but then suddenly whined a bit and backed off.

"Ozz? You okay?" Sonic asked, reaching out a hand to pet him.

Ozzie quickly trotted out of the room, back to the living room, tail tucked between his legs.

"What's gotten into him?"

"Dogs have the sixth sense," Carl explained, tapping his forehead, "They can sense things we can't, especially ghosts!"

"Whoa…"

Sonic cautiously approached the display cases that Ozzie had run away from. Inside each case was an old object, though Sonic couldn't see what was so cursed about all this junk. There was a broken flower pot inside one, another had a tall glass oil lamp, the bottom section filled with an amber liquid and a thick red wick. Inside another was a small wooden box that was wrapped in chains, and inside the last one was a porcelain doll wearing a fancy pink dress that had faded over time. Its eyes were dark and reflective, and Sonic found himself looking closer. He could almost see himself reflected inside them.

Carl pulled him back, making him flinch, "Whoa there! Don't go messing with Betsy."

"It's just a doll," Sonic said, but he was beginning to doubt his own words.

"Exactly! That's just what old Betsy wants you to think!" Carl said, "Then as soon as you open her case, she'll escape."

A sudden chill ran down Sonic's spine. "Did you just turn on the A/C in here?"

Betsy's eyes blinked shut and Sonic jumped a little, stumbling back. Carl either didn't seem to notice or was used to this kind of behavior from her.

"Betsy's a clever one, alright. Gave me some trouble a few years back the last time she got loose. Took me a whole week to track her down! Finally found her behind the diner in a dumpster. Never could find the poor soul who put her in there though. Neither could Tom, come to think of it..."

Sonic swallowed hard, taking an extra step back from Betsy's display.

"Now c'mere," Carl took his hand and pulled him over to a large desk under a bulletin board.

The entire board was covered in a huge map of Green Hills. Strung across it were instant photos, newspaper clippings, and yellowing pages of monster illustrations ripped from books, each carefully pinned, along with colorful strings wrapped tightly around the pins, tying certain locations together. Carl lifted Sonic up onto the wooden chair so he could take a closer look.

"Whoa," Sonic said, overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff. His eyes zipped around, taking it all in, trying to follow Carl's train of thought.

"I had no idea Green Hills had so much weird stuff going on!" Sonic climbed up, kneeling on the desk so he could examine one of the pinned photos closely. This one was older than some of the others, he could tell by the yellow edges of the instant photo, and the colors were washed out. Emerging from some bushes was a tall, blurry creature. Sonic at first thought it was a man, but it was awfully hairy - way too hairy to be an ordinary human.

"Yep, most people tend not to notice - or they do notice and convince themselves 'there's a perfectly natural explanation for this,'" He imitated Tom's voice, making Sonic laugh.

He pointed at the photo Sonic was looking at. "That right there is what we call a bigfoot - or sasquatch."

"Sas-quatch! I love it!" Sonic said, saying the word a few more times to himself.

"I'm not the only one who's seen one round here, but I am the only one who's ever gotten a clear photo of him," Carl said proudly.

"So what did you want to show me?"

"Oh, right! The Ghost of Pumpkin Hill!" Carl opened a desk drawer and pulled out the manilla folder he had shoved at Tom. It was still bursting with instant photos.

Sonic's eyes widened, and he whispered, "Cool," as he opened the folder and began picking up the photos, examining each of them, holding them under Carl's desk lamp. Most of them were out-of-focus, or quick snaps where the subject was mostly hidden in bushes or a tree canopy or zipping around the edge of a building or caught through a flashing window that was definitely taken from inside Carl's living room.

"That ghost has been pestering me for months! It keeps knocking things over and making the most awful racket you've ever heard, but everytime I try to catch it, it runs off - just like a certain blue devil," he smiled and winked, patting Sonic's head. "I figure, why not fight fire with fire! I bet you could catch up to it."

Sonic looked closely at the clearest photo, the one that showed a blurry white figure with a red light in the middle. There was something about it that seemed familiar, but the white figure was long and wispy, you could see parts of it rippling, maybe like a hanging dress caught in a breeze on a clothesline.

"Whaddya think? You wanna help me catch the ghost?" Carl interrupted Sonic's thoughts.

"Uh, yeah! This sounds awesome!" He set the photo carefully down in the folder.

"That's the spirit!" Carl winked.

Sonic laughed, "Spirit! Ha! I get it!"

Carl lifted him down from the desk. "Okay, the first thing you gotta know about this ghost is that it only comes out at night."

Sonic glanced out the window of the trophy room above the desk and saw that while it was still light out, the sun would be setting in a few hours. "Aw... I hate waiting," he said.

"You want to watch a movie in the meantime?" Carl offered and Sonic grinned, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

"I love movies!"

"C'mon! I'll show you my collection." Carl waved him out of the room.

Sonic took one last look around before following him. Maybe he was wrong about Carl. Sure, he was definitely a little odd, but so was Sonic! At the very least, he was certain that Carl did genuinely want to be friends and that made him less anxious. Tom was right. He felt silly for distrusting him.

* * *

"Wow!" Sonic turned around, looking at all of the towering bookshelves. They were full of VHS tapes. Carl surprisingly kept them neatly displayed, almost like a video rental store. Sonic vaguely remembered the old video rental place in town, but he had never gone in and it had closed down about four years ago. "So cool!"

"See anything you want to watch?" Carl asked.

"Yeah! I want to watch all of them," Sonic spun around, gesturing to all of the shelves surrounding him, laughing.

"Well, I reckon we got just enough time for one, before the sun goes down."

"Oh, don't make me pick just one!" Sonic zipped around the room, scanning the covers and backs of each of the cases.

To Carl, it seemed like only a few seconds, but Sonic had looked carefully at each of the tapes. Now he was deep in thought, arms folded. "I can't decide."

"Well, since we're hunting ghosts, how about this one?" He immediately plucked a tape off the shelf and handed it down to Sonic. "It's a classic."

Sonic's gaze immediately focused on the small blonde girl kneeling in front of an old television sit, her fingers splayed wide and pressing against the glowing blue TV screen. The title was written in large white-outlined letters that said "POLTERGEIST."

"They're here?" Sonic said quietly, reading the tag-line below the title. It was the only other words printed on the front of the box. "Who's they?"

"You'll see!" Carl patted his shoulder, "You're gonna love it!"

Sonic smiled nervously, turning it over, "A circus of light and magic… A superior, spectacular ghost story!" He read the critic's quotes, staring at the screenshots from the film, "Cool."

He knew Tom was pretty strict about him watching any of what Maddie called "grown-up" movies, but Sonic quickly spied the "PG" rating in the corner and smiled. Tom and Maddie would definitely let him watch something like this! How scary could it be if it's PG anyway? Tom was only really hesitant about him watching "R-rated" stuff anyway.

"Let's do it!" Sonic said, handing Carl the tape.

* * *

Soon enough, Carl and Sonic were sitting on his old couch. Sonic looked to his left to see that Ozzie was sleeping lazily on his back in front of his Carl's fireplace, legs spread up in the air, with his paws slightly bent, enjoying the warmth. Sonic smiled, glad he was doing okay. He had woofed down the canned dinner that Sonic had fed him, and was happy enough just to hang out nearby.

In lieu of a traditional dinner, Carl had opened a couple open bags of snacks, dumping them into big plastic bowls. He offered Sonic a tall, aluminum can of a drink called "Monster" which Carl assured Sonic would keep them both awake and alert to catch the ghost. Sonic could feel the effects almost immediately after the first few sips. He had never felt like this before, like he was a rocket about to launch into space. It made him a little antsy and twitchy, but the movie kept him occupied as he shoveled a mixture of popcorn, chips, and cheese puffs into his mouth.

They watched in (mostly) silence, with Carl having to shush Sonic whenever he got too excited and asked a bunch of questions. Eventually, he settled down and was enraptured by the film.

"Best. Night. Ever!" Sonic exclaimed with his mouth full, before burping loudly.

"Shhh! This is the good part!" Carl said, opening his second Monster energy drink of the evening.

"Good part!? What are you talking about? The movie's practically over. They rescued Carol Anne. See? They're moving out and everything!" Sonic turned his attention away from the screen, looking at Carl with a skeptical look.

"Shh! Keep watching!" Carl motioned frantically, and Sonic quieted down.

Sonic eventually crawled down onto the carpet, looking up at Carl's old CRT-TV, watching with rapt fascination, almost as much as the character Carol Anne herself, hugging a throw pillow to his chest.

"Okay, I'm calling it! That clown is evil!"

"SHHH!" Carl threw some cheese puffs at him and Sonic laughed, catching them out of the air and eating them before they could hit him. This made Carl laugh too. "You're too fast for your own good, kiddo."

Sonic quieted down and continued to watch intensely, his heart beating much faster than it usually did. He had no idea movies could be this nerve-wracking! He'd definitely have to convince Tom to watch this one with him when he got home from the wedding.

Sonic screamed when the clown grabbed the kid around the neck and dragged him under the bed, causing Ozzie to bark and run over, licking him.

"Help! I'm being eaten!" Sonic flailed, but stopped and began laughing when he realized it was Ozzie. "Oh, it's just you, Ozz!"

Carl started laughing too, but a crash outside made him sit up straight and pause the movie, right as the mother character was being pulled along the ceiling. Her mouth was frozen in a silent scream, her arms flailing for anything to grab onto.

"Did you hear that?" Carl scrambled off the couch, spilling the remains of the popcorn onto the old carpet as he rushed to the living room window.

"Down Ozzie, down! I'm okay, bud!" Sonic finally got him to settle, but his ears were folded back and suddenly Ozzie ran to the door, bowing low, growling. Normally, he would have gobbled up the spilled popcorn, but he was looking intensely at the door. He barked loudly.

"Ozzie? What is it, boy?" Sonic had never seen him act like that before and it actually made him a little nervous.

Carl gently split two of the old, yellowed blinds with his fingers, his eyes wide and peering back and forth across his front yard. Sonic rushed up beside him, standing on his tiptoes to peek through the bottom row of the blinds.

"Something's out there," Carl said in a low voice.

"What? I don't see any-"

"SHHH!" Carl flipped the light switch, and now the only glow was coming from the TV. Thinking quickly, Carl pulled the plug on that too, quickly drenching them in darkness.

"Look," Carl said quietly. And now, with the lights fully off, Sonic could see it, "Right there."

Sonic stared open-mouthed at the long wispy form gliding across Carl's lawn. Most of it was translucent, except for the top, which was dark, save for a red light.

"They're here," Sonic quoted quietly, but there was a grin of excitement on his face. "A real ghost!"

The form suddenly turned towards them, and Carl pulled Sonic down, the venetian blinds rattling loudly as they swung back and forth. A red light grew brighter as it came towards them.

Carl didn't have to shush Sonic this time. Both of them held their breath as it lingered for a few moments and then floated away. It took Sonic a few seconds to get his courage back before peeking between the blinds again.

"It's gone!"

"Not yet! C'mon!" Carl stood up and nearly burst out the front door, Sonic following.

"C'mon Ozzie!"

Ozzie whined, hiding next to the couch. He covered his nose with his paws.

"Scaredy cat! Fine. I'll go without my second best friend!"

"Sonic! C'mon!"

Sonic rushed out to join Carl, who now had a shotgun.

"Uh, aren't ghosts supposed to be uh… untouchable?"

"Immaterial."

"Yeah, that word!"

"Yes, except this ain't no normal ghost. It's a poltergeist, so it can materialize itself and manipulate objects - just like in the movie! This is just in case it decides to possess something," Carl said, patting the shotgun.

"Quick question: Let's just say it possesses me. You won't shoot me..." Sonic paused a moment, "Right?"

"I can't make any promises." He cocked the shotgun and Sonic gulped.

Sonic shuddered, remembering the creepy clown doll from the movie. "I really hope it's not a clown. Please don't be a ghost clown."

"There it is! This way!" Carl pointed and Sonic saw the tail end of the ghost vanishing around the corner of the house.

They quickly followed behind it, peering carefully around the corner. The red light swept around, seeming to be searching for something.

Carl pulled Sonic back around the corner. "Sonic, I've got a trap set up for it on the other side of the house. I want you to run over there and lure it in!"

"Wait, how is a ghost gonna activate the trap? It's flying around, remember?"

"That's why I need you to trigger the trap!"

"Uh, why don't you just get a really long stick? Why me?"

"Because you're quicker than my trap!"

Sonic certainly wasn't expecting that answer, but it pleased him greatly. "What kind of trap is it?"

"You remember the old flour clothesline?"

"Oh yeah! That was a good one!" Sonic laughed, remembering Carl completely doused in flour, but then realized Carl was glaring at him.

"This time, it's that ghost that's gonna wind up in all that flour, not me!"

"Why do you want to cover it in flour?"

"To track it, of course! C'mon, we need to move now, before it disappears!"

"Aye, aye, Captain Carl!" Sonic saluted, and in an instant, he was on the other side of the house, leaving Carl a bit bewildered in his wake.

* * *

The ghost was slowly floating, seeming to examine every little thing in Carl's backyard - which, to be fair, there was a ton of interesting junk. Sonic knew Carl's backyard well, had navigated it many times trying to catch a peek of Carl inside his house. It was very strange now that he was not only a welcome guest in Carl's house, but that he was actually helping Carl to catch something that wasn't himself. "If I told little me we'd be helping Crazy Carl, he'd never believe me," Sonic muttered to himself, "All right, here goes!"

Sonic whistled sharply and the ghost spun around. He was nearly being blinded by its red light, which flashed brighter.

"Hey, over here!" He called, and to his surprise, the ghost gave chase.

The ghost began making a horrible screeching noise, causing Sonic to cover his sensitive ears. The ghost rattled, hissing, some steam wisping out of it. Sonic ran towards a large white X marked with flour on the ground, going slow enough so the ghost would follow.

"Okay, gotta time this just right," he muttered, watching the ghost as it dipped and swayed. It was almost like it was having some kind of seizure, the screeching increasing. "Geez, no wonder Carl couldn't sleep!"

Sonic carefully stepped around the activator of the trap, waiting for it to come in range. "Just a little closer."

"A little closer…"

Time slowed as Sonic slid forward, slapping the white X hard with his glove. As he skidded under the ghost, he looked up to see if he could see through it.

He stopped immediately and backed up a few steps, craning his neck as things continued to slowly inch forward. The trap inching towards release.

"What the…"

He reached a hand carefully up and grabbed onto the ghost. There was nothing immaterial about this ghost. He tugged on the material a few times, realizing it was just a torn, white bed-sheet.

"You're no ghost!" He yanked hard on the sheet, but it was stuck on something, he could feel a force grinding and pulling against it. He gripped it hard and ran backwards with all his might, digging into the dirt. The sheet finally ripped free and he stumbled back onto the ground.

He threw the sheet off himself and looked up to see that the last bit of sheet was crumpled up inside the air-intake valve of one of Dr. Robotnik's egg-looking spy bots. The kind that had invaded Tom's house the first day he met Sonic. The same kind that was definitely armed and- WHAT THE HECK WAS IT DOING HERE!?

The spy bot had definitely seen better days. All of its weapon ports were open, but they didn't look functional at all. It had likely used up all of its ammo months ago. Its whole body was no longer pristinely white, covered in a variety of scratches, dents, pine needles, even the outtake valves were sputtering out bits of leaves, and it was flying a bit lopsided, giving it this unsettling, almost ethereal movement. No wonder Carl had thought it was a ghost!

Sonic didn't even realize time had restarted until the sack of flour was propelled by the clothesline, slamming into the screeching bot, exploding in a white cloud, showering him with the fine powder as well.

Sonic sniffled and sneezed, sending more flour flying.

The spy bot shuddered, sparking a bit, igniting some of the flour The screeching noise faded into a low honk as the bot dropped out of the sky, tumbling across the ground until it hit an overturned wheelbarrow. The red light on the front fizzled off.

Sonic just sat there in disbelief, frowning, as Carl came running up to him. Before Sonic could open his mouth to reply, Carl's camera flashed, followed by the slow motor buzzing as it spit out an instant photo. Carl put his hand over his mouth, trying to contain his laughter.

"Go on, let it out," Sonic sighed, folded his arms. His big frown only made him look even sillier.

Carl started howling with laughter, slapping his thighs, but ended up coughing when he couldn't get enough air to breathe. He finally calmed down a bit, gently patting Sonic's head. Then he looked at his flour-covered hand and started laughing all over again, crying and gripping his stomach.

Sonic vigorously shook himself for a few moments, to clear all of the flour off himself. "Are you done yet?"

Carl wiped his eyes, nodding. "Hoo-wee!"

Sonic, meanwhile, was more interested in the robot. It was a lot heavier than it looked. He managed to flip it over and examined the darkened eye, seeing himself reflected in it. At the very least, this one wouldn't be bothering anyone ever again.

"Looks like your ghost was one of Robotnik's spy bots," Sonic said, prying off one of the loose metal plates, discovering all of the ammo was indeed gone. That was a relief too.

"Drat," Carl said, "Was hoping I finally caught me a real ghost. Oh well," he said, "At least now that darn contraption won't keep me up at night anymore."

Sonic took one last look at the deactivated bot and stood up. What was an old Robotnik bot doing around Carl's place for the past few weeks? A thousand more questions swirled in his head, but he also began to feel the sugar crash from the Monster energy drinks. Maybe he was just being paranoid. If anything, this was probably just an isolated incident. The bot had probably been wandering alone for months now in the forest. Without Robotnik to guide it around, it was probably just... lost. In a way, that was kind of sad, but Sonic brushed off the feeling.

Carl began heading back inside. "C'mon, kiddo. Don't you wanna finish the movie?"

"Nah, I think I've had enough 'ghosts' for one night," Sonic said, yawning and stretching.

"Fair enough," Carl patted his back, "I'll get the spare bedroom ready for you."

If Sonic or Carl had bothered to turn around, they may have spotted a perfectly functional spy bot floating from just behind the trees, watching them silently as they headed back inside, the camera iris growing and shrinking, focusing on Sonic in particular.

* * *

A few miles away, a silhouetted figure was stationed inside a long black truck with no windows, parked along a secluded road into the forest. The interior was mostly darkened as well, to conserve what precious little power remained in the truck. The figure was sitting on a desk chair watching a bright screen, sipping a home-made latte from a black mug as the computer calculated. The computer finally finished, beeping, and the figure set the latte down, learning forward to see the results flash on the screen:

TARGET IDENTIFIED. HEDGEHOG. MATCH PROBABILITY... 99.9%.

"Finally!"

Agent Stone paused the camera, leaning forward and dipping his finger into the latte's foam, drawing a white X on the screen across Sonic's back as he followed Carl inside. He downed the rest of his latte in one long gulp, dribbling a bit on his collar. His outfit was much more disheveled as of late, and there were dark bags under his eyes, from many nights of little sleep. But for the first time since Robotnik mysteriously disappeared, Agent Stone smiled.

He could picture it now: Dr. Robotnik triumphantly returning through a shimmering golden portal and Agent Stone waiting there to greet him, handing over his hated enemy on a silver platter. "Good work catching the hedgehog, Agent Stone," he said aloud, imitating Robotnik perfectly, patting himself on the back. "Oh Doctor, I didn't do anything! It was only thanks to your brilliant drones and technology!"

"Nonsense my good man, you deserve a promotion!" The months of solitude spent inside Robotnik's truck had not been kind to his sanity.

"Oh doctor, you shouldn't! I couldn't possibly!" He spun around in Robotnik's old chair, giggling to himself.

All he needed now was just one of Sonic's precious golden rings. Then "Operation: Homecoming" could begin.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Thanks for your patience everyone! Life turned upside down for a few days with all the chaos going on in the world the past few weeks. I hope this tale brings you a little sunshine in the days ahead.


	7. Two Nights at Crazy Carl's - Part 3

**Two Nights at Crazy Carl's - Part Three**

Sonic slept in the next day, not getting up until past Noon, but he still felt exhausted.

"Ugh, I'm never drinking three Monsters ever again," he said sleepily as he swung his feet off the bed and pulled on his shoes. His mouth was dry and he had a bit of a headache. Maybe it was just because he had slept in a strange bed too? He stretched and looked around Carl's spare bedroom, swinging his feet a bit. There were just a few family photos hung on the wall and a plain wooden dresser with an old folding chair leaning next to it.

After doing some quick calisthenics, he threw open the heavy curtain and winced at the midday sunlight, yanking it closed while doing a vampire impression and hissing away from the light.

Ozzie announced himself with a soft bark, nosing open the spare bedroom door.

"How did you sleep, Ozz? Better than me, I hope," he ruffled Ozzie's fur and scratched behind his ears. Ozzie's tag wagged furiously. "You want breakfast?"

Ozzie immediately ran off to the kitchen, but Sonic had already beaten him there, setting down the full dog bowl just as he arrived, wiping his hands from washing the can in the sink. Ozzie began eating eagerly without missing a beat. Sonic leaned on the kitchen counter and looked around.

"Carl?" Sonic called out, but not too loudly, in case he was sleeping.

Sonic poked his head down the hallway and noticed Carl's bedroom door was ajar. He carefully walked up, feeling a sudden sense of dread. "Maybe we shouldn't have watched that scary movie? Nah, I'm just being paranoid," he muttered. Talking aloud to himself was a habit he still hadn't been able to break, especially when he was nervous.

"Caaaarlllll?" Sonic crooned, nudging open the door. He peeked inside.

Carl's bed was unmade, but there didn't appear to be anyone sleeping in it, most of the sheets in a crumpled pile on the floor.

"Carl?"

Sonic zoomed around the room, checking multiple locations at once, the closet, under the bed, behind a chair, opening a window, but he stopped in the middle of the room.

"Are you trying to scare me? It's not gonna work!" he shouted, his voice echoing a bit in the empty hallway.

Sonic checked the rest of the house, and the backyard, before coming to rest in the front yard, scratching his head. That's when he noticed…

Carl's RV was gone.

"Carl!?" Sonic cupped his hands around his mouth, calling loudly. "Some babysitter you turned out to be!"

A gentle breeze blew in response, spinning some of the colorful decorations on his lawn.

"Seriously, who's babysitting who, here?" Sonic muttered, kneeling down in the dirt driveway, spotting a pair of tire tracks. He blasted off, following them deeper into the forest.

* * *

Sonic soon arrived in a clearing, spotting Carl's RV.

Zipping up to the driver's seat, he peered in the window, and couldn't help but smirk. There Carl was, asleep at the wheel, his head lying on top of his trusty pair of binoculars, a bit of drool rolling down the edge of them.

Sonic's smirk turned evil. "Like I'm gonna pass this up!"

He ducked out of sight, chuckling.

* * *

A large branch snapping in half made Carl wake up instantly. He stood up in his seat, dumping his binoculars onto his lap and bumping his head on the RV roof.

"Gal-DURN-it! What in tarnation!?"

He rubbed his eyes and peered around the clearing, scrambling for his binoculars.

Rattling bushes caught his attention. "There you are, you son of a-" They stopped suddenly.

Carefully, he set the binoculars down on his dashboard, when more bushes began to rattle on the other side of the clearing. At first, he seemed confused, but then he glanced at the clock on his dash and grinned. Looks like someone was up early today. But this time, Old Crazy Carl was gonna get the worm - or hedgehog, so to speak.

Carl stalked towards the bushes, trying not to crack up and give himself away.

The bushes kept rattling, and as Carl crept closer, his grin got wider. "I've got you this time," he whispered.

"AH-HA!" Carl dove forward and pulled apart the bushes, discovering a terrified squirrel who immediately screeched and ran up the nearest tree.

"BOO!" Sonic shouted as he landed on Carl's shoulders, covering his eyes with his hands.

"JEHOSHAPHAT!" Carl swung around, stumbling over his own feet and falling down, right into a large pillow Sonic had placed there, exploding into a shower of goose feathers raining down.

Sonic zipped in front of him, stifling a giggle.

"Go on, then. Let it out."

Sonic cackled, doubling over, "I got you! I got you good!"

"I knew it was you! I knew it!"

"Yeah, but I knew that you knew, and you're too slow!"

Carl brushed the feathers off of himself and stood up. "Anyhow, what are you doing out here?"

"Me? What are YOU doing out here?"

"Musta nodded off."

"Uh-huh..." Sonic gathered up the feathers, stuffing them back inside the pillow. He tied a knot in the end and shoved it through the open passenger side window. "No, I mean why are you out here?"

"Something triggered one of my traps. Something big."

"How big?"

"Big enough to leave that," Carl pointed down at the ground, "You're standing in one."

Sonic looked down to discover he was indeed standing inside a large indent in the ground. Looking around him he began to notice a trail of them.

"Whoa…"

"Some kind of footprint, but I ain't never seen anything like it. Have you?"

Sonic stepped out of it and carefully knelt down. Long Claw had tried to teach him basic tracking long ago, but he had always been too carefree to really remember (or even pay attention) to her lectures. He frowned a little. They would really come in handy about now.

The shape was definitely bird-like, but not like any bird Sonic had ever seen. The biggest bird he had seen around Green Hills was a golden eagle, and they definitely didn't stumble around the forest floor like this trail was showing.

"Anyway, I lost the trail down at the creek," he pointed beyond the trees.

"So you decided to camp out here and see if it would come back?"

"Yep."

"Uh, weren't you supposed to be babysitting me last night? The sheriff will be awful mad..."

"No! Don't tell Tom!"

"Oh, I won't… as long as you give me some ice cream," Sonic grinned.

"I ain't got any ice cream."

"Then you'd better get some. My silence doesn't come cheap."

Sonic's grin grew wider. Carl finally threw up his hands in defeat.

"Oh fine! Get in."

"YES!" Sonic whooped, leaping through the passenger window and buckling up.

* * *

After a trip to the grocery store for a pint of ice cream (they finally chose cookies and cream, the only flavor they could agree on) and a bunch of toppings, they settled back in at Carl's house, gorging themselves on homemade ice-cream sundaes.

Sonic used his spoon to scrape every last tasty morsel from his bowl. "You know, Carl, I'm kinda surprised you even wanted me to come over."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, you know... after all the things I've done… over the years. I haven't exactly been nice to you..."

"Sure you stole a couple - well, a hell of a lot of batteries from me - and you did give me the runaround most summer nights, but... Looking back on it, it was pretty fun. Truth be told, I was getting bored until you came to town. Sides, Tom explained everything, I know you didn't mean anything by it. You were just trying to survive. Just make sure you don't steal no more, got it?"

"Yeah, I know."

"So whatcha wanna do tonight?"

"Can we watch another movie?"

Carl smirked. He had a feeling that's what Sonic would ask for, so he had a whole stack of VHS tapes ready for him to pick from. He laid them out across his coffee table, letting Sonic pick them up and examine them.

There was Pet Sematary (1985), Friday the 13th Part 1, War of the Worlds (1953), but Sonic's hand stopped over one that looked much newer than the others: The Ring.

"The Ring…" Sonic said quietly, imagining his own golden rings, safe at home, hidden in the secret stash under his bed. He picked it up and turned it over, looking at the pictures and skimming the text.

"What's this one about?"

"A cursed VHS tape!"

"Then how come it's called The Ring and not The Tape?"

"I s'pose you'll have to watch it to find out."

"Aw c'mon, can't you tell me a little bit more! Please?"

"Well, the curse is that whoever watches the VHS tape dies after 7 days!"

"What?! Oh my god, we have to watch this one right now!"

A second later the VHS tape was playing and Sonic was sitting on the couch with a bowl of popcorn, his mouth already crunching loudly on some as he offered the bowl to Carl.

Carl grinned and sat down beside him, grabbing a handful.

* * *

After they finished watching The Ring, Sonic couldn't stop talking about it for an hour, asking a ton of questions and Carl doing his best to answer what he could, given that he didn't know very much about Seattle, and he also didn't know much about the original film, Ringu, which was much harder to find for someone who lived in a small town. The barrage of questions finally ended though as Sonic got hyped up for another movie. This kid devoured films like Cookie Monster snarfed down cookies.

"What are we gonna watch next? Ohh! What about Pet Sematary?" He put The Ring back in its sleeve and retrieved Pet Sematary from the coffee table, grinning as he teasingly pulled it out of the sleeve.

Carl glanced at the clock. It was past nine, and he had kept him up a little late last night ghost-hunting. "I don't know that we have time for another movie before bedtime."

"Aw, just one more, please? Then I'll go to bed! I promise!"

Sonic made the most adorably sad face Carl had ever seen, his lower lip quivering, "Pwetty pwease, Cah-wul?"

Carl rolled his eyes, "Alright," he waved a hand, and before he could blink, the next tape was playing, and Sonic was perched on the edge of the couch, feet swinging excitedly as the opening credits played over ethereal music. Sonic's eyes were wide with anticipation.

* * *

Carl didn't realize Sonic had even fallen asleep until he was watching the character Jud walk up the steps, eyes wide, and Sonic's loud snore made him jump off the couch and nearly yelp in surprise. He paused the movie and looked over to see Sonic slumped over a throw pillow. He shifted around and snored a little more. He was surprised the kid hadn't woken himself up with a snore that loud. Kid could probably sleep through a tornado, Carl thought.

"Damn kid gave me a fright," Carl muttered, shaking his head and looking down at him. He checked his watch. It was past his own bedtime too. For a moment, he wondered if he should move Sonic, but he didn't want to wake him up. Instead he brought out some blankets and carefully moved his head back onto a bigger pillow, being careful of his quills.

"Sometimes, dead is better," Sonic quoted perfectly in his sleep, and Carl had to hold in another laugh as he covered him up with the blankets.

"Goodnight, you little scamp."

* * *

A soft rumble shook Sonic awake on the couch. He blinked and yawned as another rumble rattled him. This one was a little more powerful.

"Huh?" He started to sit up, but another rumble made him roll off the couch, knocking his knee into the coffee table.

"What the?!" He scrambled to his feet, completely alert now, his heart pounding as his eyes began to shimmer a soft blue, "Carl?"

He didn't waste any time, running to Carl's room. The door was ajar and he rushed to his side, gently shaking his sleeping form.

"Carl!"

Carl snorted and coughed, flinging himself upright, eyes wide. He settled when he saw Sonic standing there, looking frightened, his glare softening immediately.

He started to ask what Sonic was doing when the entire house shook.

"There's something out there! Something BIG!" Sonic grabbed his arm, practically yanking him out of bed.

Carl didn't need to be told twice, though he stopped to slip on his robe over his pajamas and his house shoes, letting Sonic hold his hand as they crept towards the living room. They both peered between the blinds, gazing around the yard.

"See anything?"

"SHH!"

"Right! I'll be quiet! I'm good at being quiet!"

Sonic's ears flickered and then he held his hands over them, crying out.

"What's wrong?"

"You don't HEAR that?"

"Hear what!?"

Sonic doubled over, curling into a tight ball. "That high-pitched squeal!"

Carl stuck his pinkie finger in his ear and cleared out some wax, but nope, he didn't hear a single thing.

Before he could ask further, Sonic sat up again, sighing with relief.

BAM! The whole house shook again. They looked around. Thankfully, Carl didn't have a lot of breakable things.

BAM! More things toppled to the floor. Whatever it was, it was getting closer. Sonic swallowed. This was bad. Whatever this was would definitely wreck Carl's house. He'd be lucky if he had a house left. So there was only one thing to do. Lure it away.

Carl saw him leaving and tried to grab his arm, but all he got was a fistful of air.

"Sonic! Come back!" Carl shouted as the door swung back towards him. He pushed it aside and shouted after him, "It's too dangerous!"

"Gal-durn-it! Tom is gonna kill me!" Carl muttered, scrambling to grab his 12-gauge shotgun leaning against his porch swing. He took a moment to load it, and grabbed an additional fistful of green buckshot shells from a tin bucket, stuffing them in his robe pocket. Ozzie was hot on his heels, whining loudly.

"No. You stay here, Ozz! Sit!"

Ozzie sat, but his ears folded down. He whined even louder, his tail whipping back and forth.

"Oh fine, guess I could use your nose. Find Sonic, okay boy? Find Sonic!"

Ozzie barked and sniffed the ground, then took off, Carl right behind him as the loud stomping grew closer.

It was darker that night than it had been yesterday. Still a few hours before the sun would rise. Carl stumbled in his slippers and eventually kicked them off, finding it easier to run barefoot to keep up with Ozzie, his robe fluttering in the night air.

* * *

Sonic slid under a falling pine tree as it crashed into the ground, skidding to a halt in the dirt just before he slammed into what he quickly realized wasn't another tree but a giant mechanical leg. The robot straightened up to its full height, which was at least taller than Carl's house. Sonic stood in shock for a moment before darting away as it lifted its leg up and came down towards him, snapping the fallen tree trunk in half where he'd been standing a moment earlier.

"Too slow!" Sonic called as he halted a few feet behind it.

Running around it had given him ample time to look it over. There was no doubt in this mind that this was a Robotnik robot. It had the same black sheen as the three-tiered vehicle that had literally ripped apart Tom's old pickup, and a giant red eye was in the center of its round body. Besides the two legs that definitely matched the large footprints near Carl's trailer last night, it also had two smaller but bulky arms, fitted with C-shaped pinchers that clanked open and closed as it grabbed at where Sonic had been, each time missing him.

It finally turned and now the red eye was focusing, gazing down at him. A pair of bright lights temporarily blinded him as they snapped open, making it look like additional eyes.

"Back for another round, Robotnik?" Sonic dared, his whole body glowing brightly as waves of energy sparked across his fur, "Well, I aim to please."

Sonic wasn't sure what to think about Robotnik himself at the moment, (especially since Sonic had personally banished him to the Mushroom Planet himself) only that he needed to take this thing down before it hurt someone. He'd worry about whoever (or whatever) was actually piloting it later.

The arm darted towards him again, but Sonic easily dodged as it gripped the trunk of a huge pine tree instead.

"Missed me again!" Sonic teased, but stepped back when the robot easily wretched the tree free from the ground, the trunk spilling bits of root and dirt. The robot gripped the tree like a baseball bat, preparing to swing.

"Uh-oh."

Sonic's speed allowed him to easily dodge the 360-degree swing, but there were suddenly trees raining down all around them in slow motion. He tripped over one while trying to dodge another and skidded, rolling just out of the way as another huge trunk missed him by inches. He slammed into another smaller falling tree as it fell, pinning him down.

Sonic groaned as he kicked and heaved, trying to lift the trunk off himself. The robot began to stomp closer. It discarded the broken tree trunk like a used chopstick and snagged another bigger trunk, holding it up high over its head, ready to bring it down onto Sonic. It couldn't end like this! It just couldn't!

Time suddenly resumed as a sharp whistle suddenly made the bot turn away from Sonic..

"Over here, you overgrown harvester!" Carl hollered as he raised his shotgun and fired two rounds of buckshot, shattering the glass lens of the robot's eye and putting tiny dents all over its metallic body. Carl fumbled in his robe pocket for two new shells, popping open the shotgun and loading them.

"Carl!" Sonic shouted, "You can't take that thing down!"

"I'll sure as hell try," he said, cocking the gun and then shooting again, this time aiming for the robot's hand. It moved the trunk to block the shot but the sudden movement threw the bot off balance and the blasted trunk clattered to the ground. The robot whirled, recalibrating, slowly standing back up.

Carl set the shotgun down as he bear-hugged the pine trunk and lifted it off Sonic, who was able to zoom out next to him, which was good because he couldn't hold it for long and it crashed back down.

"I've got an idea!" Sonic shouted and zipped off, returning with a long length of rope.

"Hold on tight!" Sonic said, shoving one end of the rope at Carl as he blasted off with the rest.

Carl was bewildered but tightened his grip, widening his stance. He had no idea what Sonic was up to, but at this point, he was open to suggestions.

"When I say go, pull!"

Sonic whipped around the robot's legs several times, and then skidded to a stop.

"GO!"

Sonic ran backwards as fast as he could as Carl pulled as well, trying not to get pulled off his own feet. Thankfully, the robot was the only one who did as the ropes closed and pulled its legs together. It began to topple to one side, arms swinging to grab anything it could. Unfortunately, there weren't any trees left for it to grab. It stumbled over one of the fallen ones.

"TIMBER!" Sonic yelled, dodging it and dropping the rope.

Carl yelled as well and grabbed his shotgun, cocking it and firing it again at the bot. This time, the shots did piece the metal, leaving sparking holes. He loaded again as Sonic divebombed by curling his body into a sparking ball of energy. He left an even bigger hole in the center, cutting straight through.

The robot flailed but Sonic and Carl continued to scream and shoot and ram into it until it finally stopped, the red lights finally dimming from its shattered glass eye, smoke rising up from it.

Sonic skidded to a halt next to Carl who fell to his knees, both of them panting and feeling high from the adrenaline rush. They looked at each other for a long moment and then smiled, laughing and hugging each other tightly.

"That was so cool! I didn't know you were secretly Arnold Schwarzenegger!"

"And you're one hell of a blue devil, through and through," Carl said, "But I'm real glad you're on our side."

"Like I would let anything bad happen to my favorite neighbor," Sonic grinned and Carl playfully ruffled his quills. "Looks like your bigfoot turned out to have two left feet."

Carl nodded, "Is this one of that robot doctor fellow's thingies? I thought you sent him packing?"

"I did," Sonic said, examining the fallen robot. "There's no way he could make it back here without one of my rings."

"Then who's driving that?"

Sonic glared into the remains of the shattered lens.

"Whoever they are, they need to leave me and my friends alone!" he shouted and stomped one last time, making sure to destroy whatever camera was in there.

* * *

Sonic's voice echoed as the viewscreen cut to black.

Stone screamed into a pillow, throwing it back down onto his makeshift cot beside the Doctor's chair. (He still couldn't think of it as his chair.) All those days of learning the complex controls and performing target practice drills had been worthless after all. The hedgehog had snuffed him in minutes out without barely breaking a sweat. He supposed it would take him years to develop the Doctor's natural skills to pilot his badniks with any sort of finesse.

And what could he do now? Now that he had trashed the Doctor's last remaining trump card, the one intact robot that was left in the truck. There was no Doctor here to build him any more. He had used it up. All he had left were four working spybots and those were clearly no match for Sonic.

No, if he was going to have any chance of getting one of the hedgehog's rings, he was going to need a less-direct plan. Something that would make the Doctor grin in delight. For now, he didn't have the mind power left to think about it, so he downed the rest of his now cold coffee and went to bed, powering down the truck for the night to save what energy it had left.

* * *

The next afternoon, Sonic stood up on Carl's fence, waving frantically as Tom pulled up in his pick-up truck. Ozzie barked excitedly, both front paws up on the fence, his tail wagging.

Maddie rolled down the passenger side window, "See?" she elbowed Tom, "I told you they'd be fine."

"Anything happen while we were gone?" Tom asked. He wasn't sure he trusted either of the giant grins on their faces. They looked far too innocent.

"Nope." Carl said.

"Just two wild and crazy guys having fun watching movies!" Sonic added, putting an arm around Carl.

Tom had a hard time believing that, but couldn't find any physical evidence to the contrary. Crazy Carl's house looked just as odd as ever, but nothing seemed out of place or on fire or well, anything suspicious. Which is exactly why it made him more suspicious. Ozzie barked, jumping up to the open window to lick Maddie's face.

"Who's Mama's good boy? It's you, Ozzie!"

"Sonic!" Jojo squealed from the backseat, bouncing and waving frantically. "Gotta go fast! Gotta go fast!"

"Time for me to go, Carl. My fan club awaits!"

Tom rolled his eyes, but smiled at Carl, "Thanks again, Carl. You're a lifesaver."

"Shucks, the little blue devil can come and visit anytime he wants. In fact, ya'll should come over for a barbeque sometime," Carl said, carefully lifting Sonic over the fence and handing him the duffel bag of Ozzie's things.

Sonic tossed them into the truck bed and ran over to the open rear door, sitting eagerly next to Jojo who immediately hugged him. Ozzie jumped in behind Sonic and crawled over him, licking Jojo as well, making her giggle. Sonic shut the door as they drove back to 55 Plymouth Road.

Sonic stood up on the seat and took one last look out the back window and saw that Carl was watching him go, waving. He waved back, surprised by the sudden sadness washing over him. Crazy Carl wasn't so bad after all. He was actually really good. The best Carl, as a matter of fact.

"Hey Tom? Can I stay over at Carl's next weekend?"

Tom sighed, but smiled at Sonic in the rearview mirror, relieved that he hadn't come back to find a forest fire or an exploded house. Sonic genuinely looked like he meant it too. Maybe things would finally become somewhat normal in Green Hills again - as normal as they could get with a supersonic alien teenager running around anyway.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Thanks again for your patience, Dear Readers. I was on a roll writing this when the Sonic movie first came out, but the current state of "Quarantine Life" has made things much harder to deal with lately, especially my anxiety and depression. I've had a few really bad days between then and now and it's been hard to unleash my creativity without constantly second-doubting myself.

Honestly, I was very afraid this chapter wouldn't live up to everyone's lofty expectations, so it's been important to remind myself that I'll never please everyone (especially since this is the Sonic fanbase we're talking about) and to just have fun with it, as that's what initially got me writing this in the first place - all the joy from the new movie. I've taken liberty with a few details here and there, but I hope you can still enjoy it despite any inherent flaws. Like Carl, I'm only human. I decided to finish this episode and move on.

If you're struggling to create things too, I hope these words encourage you to pick up whatever project you've been meaning to work on and be creative, whatever it may be.

For the moment, I still have more Blue Devil Tales to tell, so I will be back!


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